Penn State Volleyball Beats Northwestern 3-1 In Tough Road Finale

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 11 Penn State women’s volleyball beat Northwestern 3-1 (25-23, 9-25, 25-19, 25-23) in its final road match of the regular season Wednesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Box Score

Kash Williams led the Nittany Lions (23-7, 12-7 Big Ten) with 16 kills in the win, while Leisa Elisaia and Cassie Kuerschen paced Penn State’s defense with 14 digs apiece. Elisaia also had 30 assists. Penn State improved to 56-9 in the all-time series against Northwestern.

Despite a dreadful second set that featured an 18-0 run by the Wildcats (17-14, 6-13 Big Ten), Penn State handed Northwestern its seventh straight loss in conference play, coming up clutch in a pair of close sets to finish things off in Evanston, Illinois.

Temi Thomas-Ailara was excellent for Northwestern, tallying a match-high 22 kills, 17 digs, and five blocks. In her third match since returning from injury, setter Alexa Rousseau had a double-double with a match-high 42 assists and 12 digs. Five Wildcats recorded double-digit digs. They hit .174 as a team.

Penn State hit .099 and was outblocked 11-9, but came away with the victory due to its resiliency and some steady serving with three aces and only four service errors against the Wildcats. Anjelina Starck had nine digs, five kills, and two assists off the bench.

Penn State’s middle blockers, Allie Holland and Katie Clark, combined for 14 kills and eight blocks. Clark’s kill on match point gave the Nittany Lions their sixth Big Ten road win of the season.

Holland’s two aces led all players. Elisaia had the other for Penn State.

Katie Schumacher-Cawley called upon five substitutes against the Wildcats, including Zoe Weatherington, Alexa Markley, Quinn Menger, and Anastasiya Kudryashova. Weatherington had five blocks and three kills. Markley, who is coming off back-to-back Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors, had a kill and a dig.

Junior libero Maddy Bilinovic was the third Nittany Lion with double-digit digs (13), while freshman Gillian Grimes had three digs playing in front of her Adversity club program, which came out to support her, fellow freshman Katie Hurta, and a trio of Northwestern players.

After celebrating Thanksgiving as a team Thursday, the Nittany Lions will return to Rec Hall Friday at 7 p.m. for senior night against No. 19 Purdue (20-9, 11-8 Big Ten). The Boilermakers beat Maryland 3-1 in College Park Wednesday. Penn State topped Purdue 3-1 on November 12 in West Lafayette, Indiana.