Penn State Volleyball Heading To Sweet 16 After Beating Kansas 3-2

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 5 seed Penn State women’s volleyball advanced to its second straight Sweet 16 under head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley after beating Kansas 3-2 Friday night in Lawrence.

On match point, with the Nittany Lions leading 14-13, Kansas tried to ice Maddy Bilinovic with a timeout before her serve, but the senior defensive specialist delivered a walk-off ace, finding the floor with a perfectly placed ball to send her teammates flooding onto the court in celebration.

The Nittany Lions (23-8, 15-5 Big Ten) will face No. 1 seed Wisconsin on Thursday in Madison with a trip to the regional finals on the line. Time of the match has yet to be announced. Penn State lost to the Badgers in five sets in last year’s Sweet 16, but won the only contest between the two programs during this year’s regular season, prevailing 3-1 at Rec Hall.

Jess Mruzik led the Nittany Lions with 21 kills and 10 digs in their dramatic win over the Jayhawks and was among four Penn State players with double-digit kills. Camryn Hannah had 17 kills and hit .342, while Taylor Trammell (.471) and Zoe Weatherington added 10 kills apiece. Allie Holland had an excellent outing with eight kills, a match-high eight blocks, seven digs, and an assist.

Penn State withstood a dominant performance from Kansas standout Reagan Cooper, who had a match-high 29 kills and hit .464 on 56 swings, and shook off a sluggish fourth set to eventually end the Jayhawks’ impressive season. Mac Podraza guided the Nittany Lions to a .444 hitting percentage in the fifth set and finished with a season-high 52 assists, nine digs, four total blocks, two kills, and two of Penn State’s seven aces.

Bilinovic had a match-high 16 of Penn State’s 71 digs and led all players with three aces, the last of which will play on repeat in fans’ minds when looking back at this match against Kansas. Sophomore libero Gill Grimes (14 digs) and Anjelina Starck (11) joined Bilinovic and Mruzik in double figures defensively, helping the Nittany Lions dispatch of the Big 12 runner-up Jayhawks, who hit .294 to Penn State’s .292.

Wisconsin’s Anna Smrek is back in the lineup after missing the Badgers’ four-set loss to Penn State earlier this season due to injury. The Nittany Lions will keep a keen eye on Smrek and the rest of Wisconsin’s talented attackers, including Big Ten Player of the Year Sarah Franklin, Devyn Robinson, and Temi Thomas-Ailara, while breaking down film this week. No. 2 seed Oregon and No. 3 seed Purdue will square off in the other Madison regional matchup.

Box Score

Match Details

Penn St. Kansas
Set K E TA % K E TA %
1 16 3 33 0.394 14 4 34 0.294
2 17 6 37 0.297 15 2 46 0.283
3 17 4 43 0.302 13 6 42 0.167
4 8 6 30 0.067 13 4 25 0.360
5 10 2 18 0.444 10 1 16 0.563
Total 68 21 161 0.292 65 17 163 0.294
Penn St. Kansas
Points 86 79
Kills 68 65
Aces 7 6
Blocks 11 8
Assists 63 61
Digs 71 60

Match Leaders

Penn St. – Leaders
Kills Jess Mruzik (21), Camryn Hannah (17), Zoe Weatherington (10), Taylor Trammell (10)
Aces Maddy Bilinovic (3), Mac Podraza (2), Camryn Hannah (2)
Blocks Allie Holland (8), Mac Podraza (4), Jess Mruzik (2), Zoe Weatherington (2), Taylor Trammell (2), Camryn Hannah (2)
Assists Mac Podraza (52), Anjelina Starck (3), Maddy Bilinovic (3)
Digs Maddy Bilinovic (16), Gillian Grimes (14), Anjelina Starck (11)
Kansas – Leaders
Kills Reagan Cooper (29), London Davis (13), Ayah Elnady (8), Mykayla Myers (8)
Aces Katie Dalton (2), Caroline Bien (2), Raegan Burns (1), Camryn Turner (1)
Blocks Toyosi Onabanjo (4), Camryn Turner (3), Mykayla Myers (3)
Assists Camryn Turner (54), Katie Dalton (3), Caroline Bien (2)
Digs Raegan Burns (14), Ayah Elnady (10), Caroline Bien (9)

Penn State Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
9 Jess Mruzik 5 21 7 61 0.230 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 10 0 0 22.5
8 Camryn Hannah 5 17 4 38 0.342 0 0 2 4 0 2 0 1 0 1 20
20 Allie Holland 5 8 0 15 0.533 1 0 0 0 1 7 0 7 0 0 12.5
1 Taylor Trammell 5 10 2 17 0.471 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 11
17 Zoe Weatherington 5 10 6 20 0.200 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 11
5 Mac Podraza 5 2 0 5 0.400 52 0 2 2 0 4 1 9 1 0 6
2 Maddy Bilinovic 5 0 0 0 0.000 3 0 3 1 0 0 0 16 0 2 3
13 Ally Van Eekeren 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 Anjelina Starck 5 0 2 3 -0.667 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 1 0
24 Quinn Menger 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Gillian Grimes 5 0 0 1 0.000 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 14 1 0 0
19 Alexa Markley 1 0 0 1 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 68 21 161 0.292 63 0 7 10 2 18 2 71 2 4 86

Kansas Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
8 Reagan Cooper 5 29 3 56 0.464 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 30
21 London Davis 5 13 5 30 0.267 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 0 0 14
12 Mykayla Myers 5 8 0 15 0.533 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 1 0 9.5
17 Ayah Elnady 5 8 5 34 0.088 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 10 0 3 8
22 Camryn Turner 5 4 2 11 0.182 54 1 1 1 1 2 0 6 0 0 7
11 Toyosi Onabanjo 5 3 2 16 0.063 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 3 0 0 5.5
14 Caroline Bien 5 0 0 0 0.000 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 9 0 1 2
7 Katie Dalton 5 0 0 1 0.000 3 0 2 1 0 0 0 6 0 1 2
3 Raegan Burns 5 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 14 0 1 1
6 Molly Schultz 5 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0
Total 65 17 163 0.294 61 1 6 6 2 12 1 60 1 6 79

Box Score