In a match Thursday night vs. Ohio State at Rec Hall, Kennedy Martin (18 kills, 13 digs, 6 blocks, 4 aces) and Alexis Stucky (47 assists, 16 digs, 4 blocks, 2 aces) helped #13 Penn State recover from a 1st set loss to take down the Buckeyes 3-1. It was the Nittany Lions’ 8th Big Ten win this season and the 1500th win in program history.  Penn State became the second Division 1 program to reach that mark.  

 

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
Ohio St.	25	19	11	16	1
Penn St.	22	25	25	25	3

Penn State looked out of sorts in Set 1, totaling 8 attack errors (with only 8 total in the next 3 sets) and managed only a .119 hitting percentage in the 25-22 loss. To be fair, Ohio State played very well in Set 1, hitting .314 as a team, led by 5’9″ French phenom Naomy Govou (2nd in the B1G in kills/set during conference play), who topped the Buckeyes with 5 kills (.625 hitting %).

Penn State turned things around in Set 2, hitting .317 in a 25-19 win, with Kennedy Martin putting down 5 kills, and  Haley Burgdorf and Whitney Lauenstein chipping in 4 kills each.

Penn State caught fire in Set 3, running off the first 7 points in the set and finishing strong for a 25-11 win.

Penn State closed out the match in Set 4, led by Martin’s 5 kills on .500 hitting.  Whitney Lauenstein totaled  4 kills in the set (.400 hitting %) as the Nittany Lions hit .382 as a team.

For the match, Kennedy Martin totaled 18 kills, Whitney Lauenstein 12 kills, and Haley Burgdorf 10 kills. Gabrielle Nichols led the team with 9 blocks and added 6 kills. Kendall Northern’s 2 solo blocks led the team, as she totaled 6 kills and 6 blocks for the match.

Penn State is now 16-5 on the season (8-3 in the B1G) with a 4-match winning streak.  With the loss, Ohio State’s record is now 10-11 and 3-8 in the B1G.

Post-Match Interviews

(Lightly edited for length and clarity)

Katie Schumacher-Cawley: It’s nice to win. It’s nice to be back at home and it was nice to see us play much better in Sets two, three, and four. I thought, these two up here [Gabrielle Nichols and Haley Burgdorf) did a great job.  Gabby, obviously blocking wise, but she’s getting involved, and we’re setting her a little bit more and finding ways for her to score. I think Haley does a good job of knowing her role, and it changes a bit, but I’m proud of how they played.

Question: The team had 8 attack errors in the first set and then only 8 attack errors the rest of the match, what was it like cleaning things up a bit?

Katie Schumacher-Cawley: I thought we did a much better job of keeping the ball in play and managing maybe tougher sets. We just played much better volleyball, cleaner volleyball.

Question: Gabby, you had 9 blocks tonight. What was working well for you on defense?

Gabrielle Nichols: My pins were helping to set up the block a little bit better than we were doing in the first set, allowing me to close the block and press, and over time I was able to pick up on some tendencies that I saw, and just be aggressive on defense.

Question: Penn State scored first in every set tonight.  How does that play into momentum in the match?

Katie Schumacher-Cawley: We talk about being the first team to five every time we step on the floor. I think it’s important for this group to push and to earn points right away and kind of settle in. And I thought we did a good job.

Question: Haley, you mixed up your shots couple times tonight. What was it like being back in the front row?

Haley Burgdorf: It was fun. I mean, just being able to be an outlet for the team and give them a bit more. But yeah, it was definitely fun. And Stucky did a really good job, giving me a lot of open shots, whether it was cross-court, line, all of it.  So she did really good job, and Gabby [Nichols] and Kendall [Northern] did a good job too.

Question: What was your message to your team after the first set, and what allowed you guys to continue to play well?

Katie Schumacher-Cawley: After the first set, it was “we need to sharpen it up and and play our game and control what we can control.” I thought the first set, we made a lot of errors, and that’s tough — it’s a game of errors, but we had too many in areas that we usually don’t.

Question: What are some things you’d still like to clean up before facing a team like Purdue?

Katie Schumacher-Cawley: I think defensively. I always push us to be better on defense. I thought there were some coverage balls we could have gotten and some scrappy shots I thought we could have gotten a touch on when we’re aggressive. I thought we did a good job on the endline serving, and when we’re aggressive from the endline we find ways to score points defensively. I just think we need to tighten up the whole match.

Question: Gabrielle, how do you think you’ve improved throughout the season just as far as your connection with Stucky goes and playing offensively?

Gabrielle Nichols: I think that our connection gets better every day. We have a really good friendship. I think that’s really helpful — being really intentional. We all want to end up at the same spot, just continuing to work together, even on the hard days. Like, we weren’t connecting well in the first set — I think you could see that.  But we kept at it and found some success just to find a way to win.

Question: How did you keep Ohio State from coming back after time-outs?

Katie Schumacher-Cawley: We talk about winning the point after a timeout all the time. So, whether we’re receiving or serving, it’s being focused on that first touch. I always like to win those points right after a time out.

Question: Coach, Kennedy [Martin] had a lot of aces tonight. What was working well for her from the endline?

Katie Schumacher-Cawley: It’s something we do every day. We serve and pass every day, and I think the team realizes and understands that they can score from the endline and you know, Gabby closing out the match in Indiana [with a service ace], and finding ways to move [the serve] around. So I think you know the focus is there, and regardless of what position you play, you’ve got to be able to serve.

Question: Haley, this was your first double-digit kill match since the beginning of the month. What have you been implementing in practice to kind of get back on track?

Haley Bergdorf: Definitely just keep ripping away. I know I’m kind of an undersized hitter, people would say, so, just when I have Kennedy, or just as tall as Kennedy up against me, I try to use to block as much as possible, and when I have good blockers like Gabby and Kendall against me, it’s just trying to find a way around the block, and it really helps me with my eyes a lot and helps me to find those shots a little bit more.

Question: Coach, how would you evaluate the passing on tonight?

Katie Schumacher-Cawley: I think we passed a maybe a little over 2.00. It got us to win tonight, but I think we’ll have to be a lot better on Saturday [against Purdue].

Question: What did we think of Kennedy’s fashion choice with mismatched shoes tonight?

Katie Schumacher-Cawley: That’s just Kennedy. That’s her.  That’s her style.

Question: Coach, do you have any update on [Ryla Jones’] status. It looked like she was off crutches tonight, and would she be returning for Saturday’s game?

Katie Schumacher-Cawley: We’ll see. Hopefully in another week, she can get moving a little bit.

Box Score

Match Details

Ohio St.				Penn St.
Set	K	E	TA	%	K	E	TA	%
1	15	4	35	0.314	13	8	42	0.119
2	14	6	43	0.186	17	4	41	0.317
3	7	9	27	-0.074	11	1	22	0.455
4	10	7	33	0.091	17	4	34	0.382
Total	46	26	138	0.145	58	17	139	0.295

Penn State Stats

Ohio State Stats

	Attack				Set		Serve		Block			Def		Rec
#	Player	SP	K	E	TA	%	A	E	SA	SE	BS	BA	BE	DIG	BHE	RE	Pts
7	Naomy Govou, open statistics	4	12	11	42	0.024	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	11	0	3	13.0
20	Hannah Jones, open statistics	4	11	4	33	0.212	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	12.0
12	Kalli Jioshvili Ravva, open statistics	4	12	4	25	0.320	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	0	2	12.0
21	Aneta Valentova, open statistics	3	3	2	8	0.125	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	5.0
9	Mia Tuman, open statistics	4	3	1	9	0.222	36	0	0	1	1	1	0	10	0	0	4.5
8	Alia Schoonover, open statistics	3	3	4	16	-0.063	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	0	0	4.5
5	Jojo Miller, open statistics	3	2	0	4	0.500	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3.0
1	Bella Humphrey, open statistics	4	0	0	0	0.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
11	Navea Gauthier, open statistics	1	0	0	1	0.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
10	Mina Gunes, open statistics	1	0	0	0	0.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	Mia Stahler, open statistics	4	0	0	0	0.000	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	1	0
17	Emily Avshalomov, open statistics	4	0	0	0	0.000	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0	2	0
	Total		46	26	138	0.145	43	1	0	3	3	10	0	50	0	9	54.0

Box Score