The Nittany Lions are building their momentum towards the B1G tournament and the NCAA tournament as they take another ranked win, this time against #18 Indiana. Kennedy Martin (25.5 points, 21 kills, 0.514 hitting percentage, 5 block, 2 aces), Whitney Lauenstein (15.5 points, 14 kills, 2 blocks) and Gabrielle Nichols (11 points, 7 kills, 4 blocks, 2 aces) led the team in scoring.
Whitney Lauestein said “I think we all know that we could do better.” responding to her assessment of the team’s performance in the first half of the B1G. And it looks like the team took that on in this week’s two matches. After a strong win at home against #10 Oregon on Friday, the Nittany Lions were looking for back-to-back ranked wins in their match against the Indiana Hoosiers, led by Penn State alum Steven Aird.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn State | 25 | 22 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Indiana | 16 | 25 | 16 | 21 | 1 |
Penn State started off the match hot with very strong serving and a varied offense. Alexis Stucky spread the ball around to several hitters, including herself. Seven of the eight players on court earned at least 2 points in the first set. Kennedy Martin hit unbelievably well getting 6 kills on 6 swings. The first set featured the Nittany Lions close to their best despite a close start to the set at 6-6.
The Hoosiers, led by the efforts of Avry Tatum (19 points) and Jaidyn Jager (12 points) pushed back in the second. The Nittany Lions struggled with their passing early on falling behind as much as 5 points. The Nittany Lions tried to take back the lead late in the set but failed to come back and ended up losing the second 23-25.
The Nittany Lions were not to be denied however, as they took the next two sets with strong hitting and serving. Kennedy Martin ended the match with a match-high 21 kills – her 3rd match in the last 4 where she scored 20 or more kills. She also earned 9 digs (team-high), 5 blocks (team-high) and 2 aces (after pulling out the hybrid topspin serve in the 3rd set). Martin was also second in the match with hitting percentage at 0.514 – only Stucky had a attack percentage at 0.571. Whitney Lauenstein also had a dominant match with 14 kills and 2 blocks. Lauenstein was lights out in the end of the 3rd set where she had 3 kills to set up set points of the Nittany Lions. Lauenstein has scored double-digit points in eight of the last nine matches showing her good form recently.
Alexis Stucky has continued her great connection with her hitters. She earned 45 assists, 2 aces, 1 block and 2 digs. Stucky is also not afraid to call her own number in the offense as she also pitched in 5 kills with a match high 0.571 hitting percentage. Gabrielle Nichols continues her strong sophomore season with 7 kills (0.500 hitting percentage), 2 aces and 4 blocks. Nichols continues to show that she is the Lions’ best blocker and one of the more efficient offensive options. Emmi Sellman and Kendall Northern also had good games combining for 12.5 points. Ava Falduto had her best serving performance of the season as she had a season-high 4 aces. More importantly, behind Falduto’s serve, the Nittany Lions strung together runs of points.
The Nittany Lions had one of their best performances in the terms of the scoring skills especially with serving. They led Indiana in kills (59-47), aces (10-3) and blocks (9-7). The Nittany Lions also had slightly less hitting errors than the Hoosiers (8-10). The only stat the Hoosiers had the edge on was making less serving errors (13-4) and was tied with the Lions in digs (37-37).
With this win, the Lions go up 15-5 and 7-3 in the B1G which puts them at a joint 4th with Michigan State. With another strong win, the Nittany Lions also go to #10 in the unofficial RPI which puts them in a good position to host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. The Nittany Lions will have their last home-home week next as they go against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Thursday and the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday.
Box Score
Match Details
| Indiana | Penn St. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set | K | E | TA | % | K | E | TA | % |
| 1 | 10 | 7 | 27 | 0.111 | 15 | 2 | 24 | 0.542 |
| 2 | 14 | 4 | 31 | 0.323 | 16 | 5 | 35 | 0.314 |
| 3 | 10 | 5 | 26 | 0.192 | 15 | 2 | 28 | 0.464 |
| 4 | 13 | 7 | 32 | 0.188 | 13 | 6 | 30 | 0.233 |
| Total | 47 | 23 | 116 | 0.156 | 59 | 15 | 117 | 0.376 |
| Indiana | Penn St. | |
|---|---|---|
| Points | 57 | 78 |
| Kills | 47 | 59 |
| Aces | 3 | 10 |
| Blocks | 7 | 9 |
| Assists | 45 | 55 |
| Digs | 37 | 37 |
Match Leaders
| Penn St. – Leaders | |
|---|---|
| Kills | Martin, Kennedy(21) ; Lauenstein, Whitney(14) ; Nichols, Gabrielle(7) |
| Aces | Falduto, Ava(4) ; Stucky, Alexis(2) ; Martin, Kennedy(2) |
| Blocks | Martin, Kennedy(5) ; Nichols, Gabrielle(4) ; Northern, Kendall(4) |
| Assists | Stucky, Alexis(45) ; Falduto, Ava(3) ; Burgdorf, Haley(2) |
| Digs | Martin, Kennedy(9) ; Nathan, Jocelyn(7) ; Lauenstein, Whitney(5) |
| Indiana – Leaders | |
|---|---|
| Kills | Tatum, Avry (17) ; Jager, Jaidyn (11) ; Clark, Izzy (6) |
| Aces | Jackson, Audrey (1) ; Leftridge, Hannah (1) ; Jager, Jaidyn (1) |
| Blocks | Tatum, Avry (4) ; Gray, Victoria (4) ; Boersema, Ella (2) |
| Assists | Krickovic, Teodora (39); Leftridge, Hannah (4); Jackson, Audrey (1) |
| Digs | Jackson, Audrey (10); Krickovic, Teodora (7); Leftridge, Hannah (6) |
Penn State Stats
|
#
|
Player
|
SP
|
K
|
E
|
TA
|
PCT
|
A
|
E
|
SA
|
SE
|
BS
|
BA
|
BE
|
DIG
|
DHB
|
RE
|
PTS
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 |
Martin, Kennedy
|
4 | 21 | 3 | 35 | .514 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 25.5 |
| 26 |
Lauenstein, Whitney
|
4 | 14 | 6 | 32 | .250 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 15.5 |
| 8 |
Nichols, Gabrielle
|
4 | 7 | 1 | 12 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 5 |
Stucky, Alexis
|
4 | 5 | 1 | 7 | .571 | 45 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7.5 |
| 1 |
Northern, Kendall
|
4 | 4 | 1 | 9 | .333 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.5 |
| 13 |
Sellman, Emmi
|
4 | 6 | 2 | 18 | .222 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 2 |
Falduto, Ava
|
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 23 |
Burgdorf, Haley
|
4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | .250 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 |
Gin, Lexi
|
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 |
Nathan, Jocelyn
|
3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 |
Jurevicius, Ava
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TM |
Team
|
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|
Totals
|
59 | 15 | 117 | .376 | 55 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 2 | 14 | 3 | 37 | 0 | 3 | 78.0 |
Indiana Stats
|
#
|
Player
|
SP
|
K
|
E
|
TA
|
PCT
|
A
|
E
|
SA
|
SE
|
BS
|
BA
|
BE
|
DIG
|
DHB
|
RE
|
PTS
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 |
Tatum, Avry
|
4 | 17 | 6 | 37 | .297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 24 |
Jager, Jaidyn
|
4 | 11 | 5 | 23 | .261 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| 23 |
Gray, Victoria
|
4 | 6 | 1 | 12 | .417 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 6 |
Clark, Izzy
|
4 | 6 | 3 | 18 | .167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7.5 |
| 27 |
Boersema, Ella
|
4 | 5 | 3 | 13 | .154 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 12 |
Krickovic, Teodora
|
4 | 1 | 3 | 9 | -.222 | 39 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
| 5 |
Jackson, Audrey
|
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 |
Leftridge, Hannah
|
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 77 |
Granberry, Kiki
|
1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -.250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 |
Segal, Emma
|
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TM |
Team
|
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
|
Totals
|
47 | 23 | 116 | .207 | 45 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 37 | 0 | 10 | 57.0 |