Penn State Volleyball Beats UCF 3-1 To Advance To Sweet 16

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 4 seed Penn State women’s volleyball rallied to beat No. 5 seed UCF 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-21) Saturday night at Rec Hall to advance to Thursday’s Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA tournament against No. 1 seed Wisconsin in Madison.

Box Score

Kash Williams and Zoe Weatherington led the Nittany Lions (26-7, 13-7 Big Ten) with 15 and 13 kills, respectively, in the win. It’s Penn State’s 34th time advancing to the regional semifinals. Weatherington spoke with GoPSUsports after the match.

[Note: Twitter marked this as “potentially sensitive content” because the interviewer, Zach Gershman, uses the volleyball term “kills” in the interview.  Twitter isn’t really up on volleyball terminology]:

https://twitter.com/PennStateVBALL/status/1599258325413400576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1599258325413400576%7Ctwgr%5E1aef9877c6864fd7520b921b16d861f21ab882dd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum.dignittanyvolleyball.com%2Fthread%2F1290%2Fmatch-thread-psu-ucf-2022%3Fpage%3D9

Katie Clark joined them in double figures with 10 kills of her own against the Knights, who fell to 28-2 on the season after claiming a share of the AAC title and sweeping Yale in the first round.

McKenna Melville did her usual damage with a match-high 20 kills and 14 digs, but the Nittany Lions held UCF’s star outside hitter to a .140 hitting percentage on 57 swings — 14 more than Williams’ Penn State-leading tally. The Nittany Lions hit .314 to UCF’s .229 in the final match of the season at Rec Hall.

Maddy Bilinovic paced Penn State’s defense with a team-high 13 digs and three aces against the Knights. The Nittany Lions swept UCF in the season-opening tournament hosted by the Knights in Orlando in 2021. After coming up just short in a 3-2 loss to Wisconsin on November 19 at Rec Hall, Penn State has its sights set on knocking off the Badgers at UW Field House.

No. 2 seed Pitt and No. 3 seed Florida will meet in the other regional semifinal Thursday in Madison. The Panthers swept Colgate and No. 7 seed BYU, while the Gators swept Florida A&M and No. 6 seed Iowa State.

Leisa Elisaia guided Penn State’s offense with 45 assists, eight digs, three kills, and three blocks, calmly orchestrating the Nittany Lions’ comeback with a dominant second set to draw even at 1-1.

Allie Holland had eight kills, four digs, two blocks, and an ace, hitting .389 on another efficient night for the junior middle blocker. Cassie Kuerschen had eight digs, Gillian Grimes had five, and Anjelina Starck had four and two kills. Grimes’ ace on match point sent the rest of her teammates pouring onto the court in celebration.

Penn State’s 2024 commits Ava Falduto and Izzy Starck were on hand for the Nittany Lions’ win over UCF. Falduto and her mom booked their flight late Friday night once Penn State had swept UMBC in the first round. It was Falduto’s third time watching the Nittany Lions at Rec Hall.

Falduto and Starck verbally committed to Penn State last June within two days of each other and are considered among the nation’s best prospects at libero and setter, respectively. They have routinely participated in USA volleyball’s NTDP training series events together.

The start time of Penn State’s match against the Badgers (27-3, 19-1 Big Ten) is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on ESPNU — or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Pitt-Florida match, which will start at 3:30 p.m. Wisconsin swept Quinnipiac and TCU opening weekend after claiming its fourth straight Big Ten title.

Katie Schumacher-Cawley, Leisa Elisaia, Allie Holland, and Maddy Bilinovic answered questions following Penn State’s 3-1 win. The transcript of their responses can be found below. All three players lead Penn State in various stat categories this season. Elisaia has 1,287 assists, Holland has 155 total blocks and 31 aces, and Bilinovic has 420 digs.

Schumacher-Cawley’s opening statement:

“I’m so happy for these players up here and this team. I thought that was a hard-fought match. UCF is a great team. It was a fun match. I’m happy for them that they get to move on. I’m so excited for these girls. That’s my opening statement.”

What changed in your play after dropping the first set?

Bilinovic: “I thought that [it was] us holding each other accountable for bringing energy, because obviously energy is a controllable. People make errors. It’s a game of errors, we always say, but your attitude and the energy you bring to the team is 100 percent controllable, so we held each other to that.”

Holland: “I think that UCF is a great team, and they definitely brought their A game, so after that first set, I think it’s about all coming together and just regrouping, taking a breath, and knowing that we can go back out there and do a little better.”

Leisa, you had Kash and Zoe going pretty well tonight offensively. What stands out to you about them as players?

Elisaia: “I think Katie says this all the time, but they hit the crap out of the ball. It’s easy for me to just throw the ball up and they’re able to get their feet there and put the ball away. It’s pretty easy for them to score points.”

After tonight and last night’s wins, what do you think is your team’s biggest strength? How do you plan on embracing that for the following matches?

Holland: “I think that one of our biggest strengths is working through adversity. I also think that one of our biggest strengths is team chemistry. We go out there and we have fun together, but we also are good at going through adversity, which will happen in the tournament, because every team is just really good.”

Elisaia: “I think going off of that, with the team chemistry, when it’s working well, we just play a little bit more relaxed than how we showed in the first set. Just relying on each other to stay calm and composed I think will help us out in the long run.”

Maddy, what were some of the key’s to tonight’s win?

Bilinovic: “I think that once we picked up from the service line, things got a little easier for us. The first set, UCF was in system pretty close to, I don’t know, 100 percent of the time. That makes it hard to beat any team like that. So, service pressure, for sure, and I think just being a little more confident in ourselves.”

What kind of challenges did McKenna Melville present for you guys?

Bilinovic: “She was awesome. She kept me on my toes all night. The block did a really good job for me to set up defense around that, so they made my life pretty easy tonight. But, yeah, she’s an awesome player, and she definitely gave me a run for my money.”

Allie, what sets Leisa aside as a setter? What do you like about playing with her?

Holland: “I think that she’s just a great person off the court, so I think that definitely translates on the court. I think she’s great at taking feedback, and I think that she’s great at giving feedback also. She’s always telling me what she needs from me, and she’s always willing to listen to what I need from her, so I think that there’s a good dynamic there.”

Coach, what are some things that you’re most proud about this year’s team?

KSC: “Of their grit and their fight, and just being able to stick together. I think that we talk about that a lot, but I think that they trust each other and I think we have good skills. Just to be competitive and be able to throw your shoulders back and to help one another. I think they did a fine job of that tonight. I’m just proud that they get another shot and live to play another match. It’s exciting. I’m happy for them.”

Leisa, what are some things you’ll tell the team before the next match against Wisconsin?

Elisaia: “I think if we just go in confident and we control the game to our pace, I think we’ll be pretty strong.”