Penn State Volleyball Loses 3-1 To Georgia Tech

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 12 Penn State women’s volleyball lost its season opener to No. 24 Georgia Tech 3-1 (20-25, 16-25, 25-17, 19-25) Friday morning at the UCF Challenge in Orlando, Florida.

2021 PSU Roster

The match pitted head coach Russ Rose against one of his supremely talented former players in Yellowjackets assistant coach Arielle Wilson, who was a three-time AVCA All-American and helped the Nittany Lions win four straight national championships from 2007-10.

Georgia Tech finished the spring season 14-5 and advanced to the round of 32 in the 48-team NCAA tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska, losing to Minnesota in straight sets after beating Lipscomb 3-1. Mariana Brambilla was phenomenal for the Yellowjackets in their upset win over Penn State, tallying a match-high 21 kills.

Sophomore middle blocker Allie Holland made her second career start for the Nittany Lions, beating out TCU transfer Katie Clark for the starting job next to All-American Kaitlyn Hord, who paced Penn State with 11 kills (.579) and seven total blocks. Holland had six kills and six total blocks.

Freshman defensive specialist Cassie Kuerschen was the first substitute off the bench for the Nittany Lions. Fellow freshmen Quinn Menger and Anjelina Starck also made their Penn State debuts, but none recorded a stat in the loss. In total, 14 players saw the floor for Penn State.

Gabby Blossom and Matti McKissock were the only players to record double-doubles, but McKissock put together a stronger overall performance with a match-high 42 assists and 16 digs. Junior setter Emily Oerther also saw significant playing time for the Nittany Lions and finished with nine assists and three digs.

Jenna Hampton looked confident to begin her second season as Penn State’s starting libero, recording a team-high 15 digs and four assists. Hampton was surprisingly the only defensive specialist on Penn State’s roster with a dig of the four who entered the match.

Jonni Parker had 10 kills, four digs, four blocks, and two assists, while Adanna Rollins and Erika Pritchard added seven kills apiece in their first Penn State action. Pritchard had two of Penn State’s three service aces, but struggled offensively with seven attack errors.

The Nittany Lions outblocked Georgia Tech 14-8, but a tough outing from the service line spelled trouble for Penn State, which surrendered 13 errors. Penn State (0-1) will be back in The Venue at UCF at 4 p.m. ET when it faces St. John’s later this afternoon.

Box Score

Match Details

Penn St. Georgia Tech
Set K E TA % K E TA %
1 10 6 30 0.133 16 5 38 0.289
2 11 3 30 0.267 13 4 21 0.429
3 14 3 29 0.379 9 8 28 0.036
4 12 5 46 0.152 16 6 43 0.233
Total 47 17 135 0.222 54 23 130 0.238
Penn St. Georgia Tech
Points 64 67
Kills 47 54
Aces 3 5
Blocks 14 8
Assists 45 49
Digs 44 62

Match Leaders

Penn State – Leaders
Kills Kaitlyn Hord (11), Jonni Parker (10), Adanna Rollins (7), Erika Pritchard (7)
Aces Erika Pritchard (2), Jonni Parker (1)
Blocks Kaitlyn Hord (7), Allie Holland (6), Jonni Parker (4)
Assists Gabby Blossom (28), Emily Oerther (9), Jenna Hampton (4)
Digs Jenna Hampton (15), Gabby Blossom (11), Adanna Rollins (8)
Georgia Tech – Leaders
Kills Mariana Brambilla (21), Julia Bergmann (16), Bianca Bertolino (6), Erin Moss (6)
Aces Julia Bergmann (3), Matti McKissock (1), Mariana Brambilla (1)
Blocks Breland Morrissette (5), Erin Moss (3), Bianca Bertolino (2), Matti McKissock (2), Mariana Brambilla (2)
Assists Matti McKissock (42), Maddie Tippett (5), Bianca Bertolino (1), Isabella D’Amico (1)
Digs Matti McKissock (16), Maddie Tippett (14), Bianca Bertolino (10)

Penn State Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
23 Kaitlyn Hord 4 11 0 19 0.579 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 15
9 Jonni Parker 4 10 3 31 0.226 2 0 1 2 0 4 0 4 0 0 13
5 Erika Pritchard 4 7 7 33 0.000 0 0 2 2 0 3 0 2 0 3 10.5
20 Allie Holland 4 6 2 16 0.250 0 0 0 3 1 5 1 1 0 0 9.5
1 Adanna Rollins 4 7 1 23 0.261 2 0 0 2 0 2 0 8 0 0 8
18 Anastasiya Kudryashova 3 4 2 9 0.222 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 6
13 Gabby Blossom 4 1 1 2 0.000 28 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 1
0 Annie Cate Fitzpatrick 1 1 1 2 0.000 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
15 Jenna Hampton 4 0 0 0 0.000 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 15 0 1 0
19 Emily Oerther 2 0 0 0 0.000 9 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 1 0 0
2 Maddy Bilinovic 2 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 Anjelina Starck 2 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
12 Cassie Kuerschen 2 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
24 Quinn Menger 2 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 47 17 135 0.222 45 1 3 13 3 22 1 44 2 5 64

Georgia Tech Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
13 Mariana Brambilla 4 21 4 49 0.347 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 9 0 0 23
17 Julia Bergmann 4 16 8 37 0.216 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 9 0 0 19
23 Erin Moss 4 6 2 11 0.364 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 8
5 Bianca Bertolino 4 6 6 20 0.000 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 10 0 0 7
11 Breland Morrissette 4 3 2 9 0.111 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 6
22 Matti McKissock 4 2 0 2 1.000 42 1 1 0 0 2 1 16 2 0 4
24 Mikaila Dowd 1 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
10 Isabella D’Amico 1 0 0 1 0.000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Paola Pimentel 4 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
6 Maddie Tippett 4 0 0 0 0.000 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 14 0 2 0
Total 54 23 130 0.238 49 3 5 2 2 12 1 62 2 3 67

Box Score