Penn State Volleyball Beats No. 2 Wisconsin 3-1 In Highest-Ranked Win Since 2017

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 19 Penn State women’s volleyball beat No. 2 Wisconsin 3-1 Saturday night at Rec Hall in front of a crowd of 5,082, recording its highest-ranked win since beating No. 1 Stanford 3-1 in College Station, Texas, on September 1, 2017.

Camryn Hannah led the Nittany Lions (17-8, 11-5 Big Ten) with a match-high 19 kills, tying Wisconsin’s Sarah Franklin, while Mac Podraza had a season-high 51 assists and now sits at 957 in a Penn State uniform. Podraza was also among four Nittany Lions with double-digit digs, tallying 13 in the win. Hannah spoke with Big Ten Network’s Emily Ehman courtside after the match.

Box Score

Jess Mruzik had 16 kills and 16 digs against the Badgers, playing a major role in handing Wisconsin its second loss of the season. Mruzik reached 400 kills on the season with her fifth of the night and currently sits at 411 with four matches left in conference play. Mruzik’s status as one of the best players in college volleyball is unquestioned, as she continues to deliver in big moments for the Nittany Lions.

Wisconsin was without towering junior Anna Smrek for the second match in a row, as the 6-foot-9 standout also missed the Badgers’ sweep of Maryland Friday night in College Park due to injury. Despite a 7-1 run by the Nittany Lions late in the first set to take a 22-20 lead, Wisconsin responded with a 5-1 run of its own to take a 1-0 advantage.

Penn State evened the match at 1-1, taking the second set in dramatic fashion after letting the Badgers back into it late in the frame. The Nittany Lions led 22-15 following a Hannah kill, but Wisconsin rattled off a 9-2 run to make it 24-24. After trading several points, another Hannah kill and Franklin attack error sealed it for Penn State, which only hit .111 in the second set.

The third set proved to be another nail-biter, but a Katie Schumacher-Cawley timeout at 23-23 helped her team remain composed before a Wisconsin service error and Mruzik kill made it 2-1, much to the delight of the home fans. Following the sell-out, standing-room-only crowd on hand against No. 1 Nebraska on November 3, Saturday night’s match marked another great turnout from the Penn State community.

Podraza guided Penn State’s offense to a sterling .405 hitting percentage in the fourth set and the team’s most dominant win of the night. Taylor Trammell’s enormous solo block of Carter Booth made it 21-15 and epitomized Penn State’s determination against the Badgers. Gill Grimes, who finished with 14 digs and five assists, had a walk-off ace on match point, her second of the night, before finding Allie Holland for a jubilant hug as their teammates poured onto the court in celebration.

Trammell was extremely efficient, a theme for the Lexington, Kentucky, native, hitting .571 with nine kills and four total blocks. Holland had seven kills, a team-high five total blocks, and three digs in the win, while Maddy Bilinovic had 10 digs, two assists, and two aces, continuing her strong play of late. Anjelina Starck added eight digs. Zoe Weatherington rounded out the scoring for Penn State’s offense with 10 kills, joining Hannah and Mruzik in double figures.

The Nittany Lions snapped Wisconsin’s four-match winning streak in the series and now lead it 50-14. Penn State will welcome Michigan State and Northwestern to Rec Hall next weekend for its Silent Set match against the Spartans and the program’s senior night versus the Wildcats on Saturday. Schumacher-Cawley, Podraza, and Trammell answered questions following the Wisconsin win. The full transcript can be found below.

Schumacher-Cawley’s opening statement:

“Thanks for coming. First of all, I want to thank the wRECking Crew, our band, and all of our supporters. We’ve been very fortunate with the crowds we’ve had and it’s amazing. I’m proud of these two girls up here and the other 17 of them. I thought that they were all focused and ready to help each other. It’s a great win. I’m proud of them.”

Mac, Cam [Hannah] led the team in kills. Was that a different approach this match?

Podraza: “No. I would love for her to lead the team in kills every week. I don’t care who leads the team in kills, as long as we’re all getting kills and we’re firing on all cylinders. I don’t even know what the stats were, but I felt like it was pretty balanced up there. I’m happy that Cam went off tonight. We’re going to need her to do that again next weekend, but we need Jess [Mruzik] to do it every weekend, too. It’s one of those things. It doesn’t matter who does it. We just need people to step up.”

Taylor, you guys hit .405 in the fourth set. What do you think were the keys to that?

Trammell: “I think that, honestly, our energy switched. We came together. I just think my teammates helping me get my mind right is the main thing that keeps me going, I feel like, in those types of time.”

Coach, what were some of the keys to victory tonight that you saw?

KSC: “I said to the team, I think this was the first time I’ve seen them not give up on points from start to finish for the whole match. I thought Mac did an excellent job defensively and setting. I’m just proud of them. Taylor came up with some big blocks there and is always available to score. I think everyone did their job, and that’s why this group won. We need to continue to get better with that, play two at home next weekend, and just keep taking care of business.”

Coach, before this weekend, you had lost five of your last seven matches, then you had a sweep last night and you beat the No. 2 team in the country. What changed from those previous matches?

KSC: “I think the team came to practice every day with a purpose and willing to make changes. They’re working hard on their serve-pass game, and I think everyone’s just putting in a little extra right now to help the team. Even the players who didn’t get in at all have been challenging in practice and challenging the starting side. They’re making them better. That’s they key for us is to keep getting better.”

Mac, how you have you seen the team improve throughout the season and what does this win do for your confidence?

Podraza: “I think it’s the little things. It’s what Katie said. That was an example of us playing cohesively as a group, together. That’s one thing we’ve been talking about a lot. We had each other’s backs out there. That was one thing that I felt, being on the court, was that at any given moment, anybody was coming up and giving each other feedback. I think just little things like that are making us push to the next level. And yeah, that was a huge win. They’re a really good team. Every win in the Big Ten is huge. It’s definitely going to help us moving forward. I’m proud of this team.”

Mac, were you seeing things [more] clearly? You had some nice kills and were dumping it into open spots.

Podraza: “I’ve been working on being more aggressive. I think it’s one thing that makes me uncomfortable, but [it’s] good. I’m just trying to get better and better at that as we go. I think the hitters were up, which allowed me to be open, too. Wisconsin is a good blocking team. They’re really big up front, so having them be worried about all of my hitters allowed me to be open a little bit more often. Shoutout to them.”

Taylor, you had a big block on [Carter] Booth there [in the fourth set]. What was it like celebrating with your teammates after that?

Trammell: “We needed it. We needed that momentum, we needed that energy, and blocking is always going to do that for your team. I’m obviously proud I blocked her. It’s what I do. I’m a middle blocker.”

KSC: “It’s what she does.”

Mac, you mentioned the big blockers from Wisconsin. Was there a game plan for more finesse-like hitting on offense?

Podraza: “I tell my hitters to go up and rip big, and we’ll cover underneath them. I think we started a little rocky with that coverage. We got better as the match went on. That was something that we talked about, and it got better as we went. But no, if we’re making tips and shots and overthinking it like that, we’re too much in our own heads, so just go take big rips.”

Taylor, how would you assess the team’s defensive specialists tonight?

Trammell: “I think, like Mac said, covering was a little bit rocky in the beginning, but we came through at the end. We were really depending on each other more than ever, I feel like, in this match. Knowing that we trust each other and our abilities and skill level to do what we need them to do, they rose to the occasion, which we know they’ll do every time for us. I was really proud of them.”