No. 20 Penn State women’s volleyball beat West Virginia 3-1 (25-14, 25-10, 20-25, 25-19) Saturday night to cap an undefeated weekend at the Penn State Invitational.
Anjelina Starck led the Nittany Lions (3-0) with a career-high 16 kills, while junior libero Maddy Bilinovic set a new career high herself with 19 digs and three aces for the second match in a row. Bilinovic also had three aces in Penn State’s 3-1 win over Loyola (Maryland) Saturday morning.
Zoe Weatherington and Kash Williams had 10 kills apiece on a night where Penn State hit .256 as a team. Leisa Elisaia had her second double-double of the day against the Mountaineers (2-1) with a match-high 36 assists, 10 digs, four blocks, three kills, and two aces.
Weatherington, who was named the MVP of the Penn State Invitational, earned a spot on the all-tournament team alongside Bilinovic and Elisaia. West Virginia’s Adrian Ell and Bailey Miller, who had nine and eight kills, respectively, Saturday night, also made the team. UConn’s Allie Garland, Duquesne’s Anita Parrot, and Loyola’s Lauren Link joined them.
Allie Holland and Taylor Trammell combined for nine kills and 15 blocks in the win. Trammell didn’t record a single attack error and had the best hitting percentage on the team at .571. Penn State outblocked the Mountaineers 15-7. The two teams played a scrimmage at Rec Hall earlier this spring. Penn State is now 31-0 all-time against West Virginia.
Freshman defensive specialist Gillian Grimes returned to the starting lineup for the second night in a row after Anastasiya Kudryashova started in the morning. Kudryashova had a kill and Cassie Kuerschen added three digs as the only other substitutes outside of Williams, who also had five blocks.
The Nittany Lions travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, next weekend for the Tiger Challenge at LSU. Penn State will play Iowa State (1-2) Friday at 1 p.m. and Troy (2-1) at 6 p.m. later that evening. The Nittany Lions face tournament host LSU (1-2) Saturday at 4 p.m.
Schumacher-Cawley’s opening statement:
“I’m happy. It’s hard to win. Every match is competitive. I’m happy they gutted it out and found some ways to score points and make less errors.”
Coach, you have your first weekend under your belt. Did you learn a lot?
“I think you learn every set, every match you play. It’s definitely different without him (Russ Rose) sitting there. I’m a little bit more uptight than he was, but no, it was good. Great learning experience for all the players. I mean, we saw a lot of players get in over the weekend. We have a lot of work to do this week. I tell them every day, all 17 of them will contribute to the team’s success. I’m expecting all of them to come to practice and be ready to get better.”
Coach, throughout both matches today, one running theme seemed to be a lot of momentum swings, both positive and negative. Have you witnessed that in every match? How important is that going forward?
“Yeah, you know, we talked about it. I think it was the third set, we started off with four errors. We had two missed serves, a hit out of bounds, and a blocking error. I think it’s hard to win when you make errors like that back to back, so I think we talked about that, corrected a few things, and it’s definitely something we’ll be working on next week.”
Coach, what were some positive takeaways from the weekend?
“I thought our passers did an excellent job. I thought Maddy, I thought Gillian Grimes, I thought Anjelina all passed really well. I thought they passed well, and when they can do that, Leisa has options. I think we’ve been working to get all the connections going, and they did a good job. But when we pass well, we’ll be able to score.”
Coach, what are your thoughts on Leisa and Zoe’s connection and just the hitters in general with her?
“I think they’re finding their groove. They work hard in practice. That’s one thing that they’ve been working on. We’ll gradually get better at it and find the right tempo. They know it’s an everyday process. They’ll put the work in.”
Can you guys talk a little bit about how you felt in terms of stamina, because it’s, obviously, the second match of the day?
Zoe Weatherington:
“We have a lot, lot, lot of support for our regen and a lot of rehab that we do, plus the work that we put in over the summer really, really helps us just be prepared for long matches, for long tournaments. And I think that really showed this weekend, because we were ready to go when the ball hits the other side of the net.”
Leisa Elisaia:
“I think we all know individually what we need to do in order to get ourselves ready for the next game as well. In between games, we either are taking the rest that we need or getting treatment, so that we’re ready for this last game to come in fresh and handle business.”
This is a question for both of you. We just talked about managing momentum. How do you manage both positive and negative swings during the game?
Elisaia:
“I think kind of just relying on each other and leaning in on each other when times are especially really tough, because, obviously, when things are good, things are really good, and we can handle that well. But when things are tough, I think just being able to lean on the person next to you and motivating the person next to you so we can continue to build on that momentum.”
Weatherington:
“Yeah, a lot of talk and a lot of eye contact. Outside of this, we’re friends, too, so we know how to communicate with each other. We’re also adults, so as soon as we get on that court and the pressure’s on, we still have that connection of communication, communication, communication.”
For the players, what has your first couple weeks and months here been like at Penn State?
Elisaia:
“It’s been a grind. I mean, that’s all there is to it. I think day in and day out, we’re always in here grinding. I said before, everybody who’s here on this team wants to get better each and every day, so we’re putting in the work on and off the court each day.”
Weatherington:
“It’s been a grind, but everybody’s been really welcoming and very supportive, so it’s not hard. You want to come into the gym every day, you want to work with your teammates, you want to talk to your coaches, you want to see the boosters, you know. Everybody’s nice. It really is a great environment, so that we can come in and get the work done.”
What’s your impression of the State College area in general?
Weatherington:
“It’s friendly. It’s nice. Even the old retired folks here, you walk down the street and they say hi. I’m like, ‘Yes, you guys talk!’ Like, ‘Hello.’ You just have a random conversation with someone who’s passing by, just because there are good people.”
Elisaia:
“Super supportive, super friendly. That’s basically everything. Even my mom’s in town and she’s like, ‘Everybody talks to me everywhere I go.’ It’s super supportive. I feel the love, for sure.”
The crowd tonight was really loud, especially compared to the 11 a.m. match. How do you feel that helped you on the court?
Elisaia:
“I think home-court advantage is, obviously, something that we can use to help us build our momentum as well, but we kind of talked about it in the locker room that, even if they’re not there, we need to create our own energy. So I think going forward, we can focus on utilizing that, and when we do have the crowd, use that as well to our advantage.”
Weatherington:
“The crowd does mean a lot to us and our fans are amazing, but it really is on us. We have to kind of create a bubble of what really matters around that court, and that’s us. If we have to create that energy for ourselves, we’re going to do it.”
This is for Zoe and Seleisa. After losing the third set, were there any big adjustments you made for the fourth set to come back and take the match?
Elisaia:
“I think we kind of just communicated on resetting and going back to what we did the first set and second set. Coming in strong to this fourth set was important for us so we could build that momentum early on in the set.”
Weatherington:
“At times when I came off the court, my teammates were talking to me, the coaches were talking to me, they’re telling me, ‘Hey, you’ve got this. You’ve got that.’ They create more options for me, and then I’m able to go on the court and, you know, do that. That’s all it takes I think.”
What are your thoughts on Maddy and the defensive specialists?
Weatherington:
“That girl is energetic. I love it, I love it. She tells me what shots are open. She’s never quiet. She’s always there when you need her to be there. Her energy is the same all the time, very consistent with just showing up and being a great teammate.”