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.

Box Score

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.