No. 14 Penn State women’s volleyball beat No. 9 Minnesota 3-1 (25-18, 25-18, 20-25, 27-25) Friday night at Rec Hall in the program’s annual White Out match.
Kash Williams led the Nittany Lions (22-6, 11-6 Big Ten) with a match-high 20 kills and hit .368 in the thrilling win, which saw Zoe Weatherington and Allie Holland come up clutch at the end of a crazy fourth set to close out the Golden Gophers (17-8, 12-5 Big Ten). Williams surpassed 1,500 career kills in the win.
The critical sequence in the 4th set came with the score tied 25-25. Zoe Weatherington, playing in the back row, attempted an attack that initially was called out, but after Katie Schumacher-Cawley challenged, the call was overturned. Minnesota then used its last challenge, arguing that Weatherington had begun her attack inside the 10-foot line, and therefore the attack was an illegal backrow attack. As video replays made clear, the attack was legal, giving the Lions a one-point lead.
When Penn State then scored on an attack by Allie Holland after Minnesota’s blocker was called for a touch, the play couldn’t be reviewed becauseMinnesota had used its final challenge on the previous point. It should be noted that replays (and commentary by the announcers) seemed to confirm the original call — the Minnesota blocker appeared to have gotten a finger on the ball. Regardless, point, set, match Penn State.
For the first time this season, No. 14 @PennStateVBALL knocks off a Top-10 opponent. 👏
The Nittany Lions take the 3-1 victory over No. 9 Minnesota.
📍 Unleaded 88 pic.twitter.com/drZjnyLA4j
— Penn State On BTN (@PennStateOnBTN) November 19, 2022
Holland finished with seven kills and a match-high seven total blocks, tying Minnesota’s Arica Davis. Weatherington joined Williams and Alexa Markley in double figures with 10 kills and four blocks. Markley had 11 kills (.321), three blocks, and two digs, showcasing her efficiency and coolness under pressure.
Penn State’s primary passers, Maddy Bilinovic (15 digs), Gillian Grimes (10), Cassie Kuerschen (7), and Anjelina Starck (6), did an excellent job limiting Minnesota’s offense to a .211 hitting percentage. Bilinovic had a match-high three aces. Taylor Landfair’s 17 kills led the Golden Gophers, but she also had seven attack errors against the Nittany Lions, who improved to 50-15 in the all-time series.
Graduate senior middle blocker Katie Clark had another impressive match with nine kills, five blocks, and two digs, proving to be a reliable option for setter Leisa Elisaia, who had a match-high 48 assists, eight digs, three kills, a block, and an ace. Minnesota’s Melani Shaffmaster finished with 40 assists and 10 digs.
The Nittany Lions are back in Rec Hall against No. 3 Wisconsin (22-3, 16-1 Big Ten) Saturday at 8 p.m. in a televised match on Big Ten Network. The Badgers swept Rutgers Friday in Piscataway, New Jersey. Wisconsin swept Penn State, which is currently in fifth place in the conference, earlier this season on September 30 in Madison.
Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s opening statement:
“It’s a great win. It’s a great team win. That’s a very, very good Minnesota team. I’m proud of the way our girls fought and played hard and stayed focused and found a way to win. Found a way to win.”
Kash, what does it mean to you to surpass 1,500 kills?
Williams: “Let’s just say I was happy. I thought they stopped recording it at 1,000 kills. I just keep going and I don’t really think of the numbers. It’s pretty cool that I reached 1,500. It’s a pretty cool accomplishment.”
It was really fun to watch your celebrations. When you celebrate, do you realize how that picks up the rest of the team?
Williams: “Yeah, 100 percent. We all feed off of each other. When we all celebrate with each other, it just makes all of us, not only me, just everybody as a team excited.”
Maddy, what was going through your head during that crazy final sequence? How important was this win tonight?
Bilinovic: “That last rally was pretty insane. I don’t know how many touches were in that rally, but it had to be a pretty high number there. I thought that we showed resilience throughout the whole game. I know the third set didn’t go how we wanted it to, but resilience through the end. I mean, we showed it in that deuce game in the fourth set. I’m just proud of us for working our butts off.”
What does Kash do particularly well?
Bilinovic: “Kash is insane. You can’t dig Kash. You can’t read Kash. You put the ball high to Kash and she’ll get her kills. I’m super proud of her. I think that her energy and what she brings to this team is unmatched. I think that there’s no one like Kash, Kash money.”
Your serves were right on tonight. No errors. How does that help solidify your offense?
Bilinovic: “I think that it’s been a journey for me all season behind the serving line. I want to put our team in a position to get the other team out of system in any way I can. Tonight, it just happened to be a night that I was on. I’m happy that I could contribute to the team with that.”
Coach, in every statistic except for blocks, you led Minnesota. What are your thoughts on that?
KSC: “I don’t know. Like I said, I’m just proud of them. They gutted it out and found a way to win. I thought we served aggressively. We dug in when it got tight. Everyone came up with big plays. Everyone on the floor came up with big plays. The bench was into it and knew what was going on and helping each other out. For me, this team wins when everyone is doing their job.”
Kash, what’s your favorite thing about playing for Penn State and being in environments like this tonight?
Williams: “Just the culture, the fans, the coaches, the team, everyone. Everyone just brings each other up. It’s just a great place to play. I love it here.”
With Thanksgiving coming up, are most of your families going to be in town?
Bilinovic: “Yeah, both of our families are here right now. We have really awesome support. They’ll follow us to Northwestern, they’ll come back. They’re always on our side.”