Penn State takes their first top-5 victory over the Stanford Cardinal in the Palestra. Kennedy Martin (15 pts, 14 kills, 2 blocks, 13 digs), Haley Burgdorf (12.5 pts, 10 kills, 0.450 hitting percentage, 2 aces) and Whitney Lauenstein (11 pts, 11 kills) led the Nittany Lions.
In a matchup of the two winningest programs in women’s volleyball, the Nittany Lions came out on top to tie the all-time head to head 14-14. The Cardinal came into the match with marquee wins over #6 Wisconsin and #15 Kansas and were the concensus favorites for this match. However, with a mix of gritty floor defense and strong serving, the Nittany Lions took a 3-0 victory over the #4 team in the country.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford | 25 | 20 | 21 | 0 |
| Penn St. | 27 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
This is the earliest the Nittany Lions have earned a Top-5 victory in the Schumacher-Cawley era and the earliest since September 9, 2017, when the Nittany Lions took down #1 Stanford 3-1.
Kennedy Martin earned her first double-double with a match-high 14 kills and tied for match-high with 13 digs. Martin was the Nittany Lions’ go-to-hitter when they were in need of a point but proved that she wasn’t just there to hit, as she featured her much more developed defending.
Haley Burgdorf also had a spectacular performance, contributing 10 kills, 9 digs and a team-high 2 aces. Whitney Lauenstein came through with some spectacular hits of the type that has earned her the moniker Big Hit Whit. She pitched in 11 points, all from kills, to Penn State’s effort. Alexis Stucky had another double-double performance with a match-high 36 assists and 10 digs.
The Nittany Lions led in almost all categories. They lead in kills (45-38), aces (4-2), assists (44-35), digs (56-42) and committed less service errors (13-2). The Nittany Lions statistically only fell behind in blocks (6-4) and hitting errors (22-12). Expect the hitting errors to get lower as the team gels even more throughout the season.
The Nittany Lions hope to bring this momentum into the rest of their non-conference. They face the Ohio University Bobcats tomorrow in Rec Hall for the Team Ream Match and the Villanova wildcats on Tuesday.
Post-Match Press Conference
After the match, Coach Katie, Ava Falduto, and Haley Burgdorf answered questions from the media. Below is a transcript of the questions and answers, lightly edited for length and clarity.
Opening Statement by Coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley.
Question: What part of the team’s game were you most impressed by today?
Coach Katie: I thought collectively our defense, I thought we were flying around, making some good plays, getting some good touches at the block, and, you know, they played as a unit. The front court and back court were playing well together, and I think when we do that, we can do some great things.
Question: Haley, you hit 0.450. What were you seeing out there from Stanford’s defense that allowed you to hit so efficiently?
Haley Burgdorf: Based off of the scouting, I just knew I could go high hands and going high hands is one of my specialties. And even if I did get blocked, I knew my teammates had my back. So I just kept swinging away and giving it my all.
Question: After a tough loss to Kentucky, what did you guys do over the course of the last four days to prepare?
Ava Falduto: Yeah, I think it was a really cool match to play at Wrigley against Kentucky, but we knew we had to bounce back pretty quickly because we had a really good Stanford team to prepare for. And I think we went into practice knowing that, and the coaches did a really good job preparing us for this game. And we just came in ready to work during the week.
Question: Was there any conversation that you had after Kentucky, like, “hey, if we want to beat teams with this caliber, this is what we have to do”. Was there any conversation between you guys like that?
Haley Burgdorf: Yeah, there definitely was. I think we all realized that what we do in practice is what we have to implement in a game. That very next week, we went 110% in practice, and we knew that’s what we had to do to push into the next game. That’s what we did. We stuck together as a team, stayed high energy, and stayed very intense out there.
Ava Falduto: Yeah, I think we also knew that what we did against Kentucky wasn’t our best, and we know we have a higher standard than that. So keeping ourselves at that standard is going to be really crucial for us against these big teams.
Question: You had big shoes to fill after Gillian Grimes graduated. How has that transition been like?
Ava Falduto: Yeah, I think our littles group does a really good job. Every single year that I’ve been here, we’ve always had each other’s backs and pushed each other every day in practice. So it’s been a pretty easy transition. Gill led the way for me the past two years, so it’s been great to look up to her and learn from her.
Question: How did having a huge crowd travel here tonight for Penn State? How did you feel on the court hearing a crowd cheer for you tonight?
Haley Burgdorf: I think it was amazing to see how many supporters we have throughout Pennsylvania in general. So many people came out here to support us, and it really got our energy going. As our energy went up, their energy started going up too. It was very consistent throughout the match, and that kept us at such a high level.
Ava Falduto: Yeah, having the band here too was really cool and it kind of felt like a home game for us.
Question: What was going through your minds when those set points came?
Coach Katie: Finish.
Haley Burgdorf: Yeah finish. We thought to just stay clean with our volleyball. We know we can handle each ball with good intent. So just finish.
Question: Coach there was a lot of back and forth runs early on. How did you think the team responded to that?
Coach Katie: I think we did a good job responding to that. It’s a game of errors, and I think we bounced back a lot quicker when we made errors tonight than we have in the last couple matches. I think the players understand that strings of points are what hurt us, and we need to continue to work on that and stay focused on it. All in all, it was a great effort, a great match, and we’re grateful for all the Penn State support here. We’re wishing the football team the best of luck tomorrow.
