No. 8 Penn State women’s volleyball lost its 2023 season opener to No. 11 Florida 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 17-25, 24-26) Friday night in front of a crowd of 6,627 at Amalie Arena in the Road 2 Tampa Bay Invitational.

Senior outside hitter Jess Mruzik had a double-double in her Penn State debut with a team-high 15 kills and 14 digs, tying sophomore Gill Grimes, who had a career-high effort in her first match wearing the libero jersey for the Nittany Lions. Mruzik also had a team-high three aces.

Box Score

Back at it against No. 20 Georgia Tech tomorrow.#WeAre
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— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) August 26, 2023

Allie Holland had a career-high 10 total blocks, six kills, and two aces, helping the Nittany Lions out-block the Gators 15-11, but Florida relied on a pair of true freshmen, its stud sophomore setter, and an extremely loud fan base to take the win. Penn State led 24-21 in the fourth set, but surrendered a 5-0 run to the Gators.

Freshmen Kennedy Martin and Kira Hutson led the Gators with a match-high 18 and 14 kills, respectively, with Martin earning the start in her collegiate debut. She also added 11 digs and five total blocks. Alexis Stucky battled through leg cramps to finish with a match-high 55 assists, seven digs, three aces, two kills, and a block.

On the opposite side of the net, Mac Podraza had 39 assists, four blocks, three kills, and a dig in her Penn State debut, but the Nittany Lions struggled with consistency in their passing game as the match wore on, leading to some untimely errors in key moments. Florida finished with a 58-44 advantage in digs, as libero Elli McKissock added a team-high 13 and two aces.

Neither team’s coaching staff felt particularly comfortable going to their bench, as Penn State relied on only four substitutes and Florida called upon just three. Junior outside hitter Anjelina Starck and senior defensive specialist Maddy Bilinovic both started for the Nittany Lions. Starck tallied nine kills, five digs, and a block, while Bilinovic had six digs and an assist.

Zoe Weatherington (eight kills, seven blocks), Alexa Markley (three kills), Cassie Kuerschen (two digs), and Quinn Menger (service specialist) were Penn State’s lone subs in a difficult matchup to begin the season. Markley provided a spark in the fourth set, but didn’t rotate in until then.

The Nittany Lions (0-1) are back in action Saturday at 6 p.m. when they face No. 20 Georgia Tech (1-0) at USF’s Yuengling Center. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ for those who didn’t make the trip to Tampa. The Yellow Jackets swept the tournament-host Bulls Friday evening before the Penn State-Florida match.

Podraza and Holland, who were named Penn State’s captains earlier this week, joined head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley in the postgame press conference to discuss some of the things that went wrong and what Florida did particularly well Friday night. The transcript of questions and answers can be found below.

Schumacher-Cawley’s opening statement:

“I thought Florida competed hard. We had opportunities to score some points and didn’t take advantage of it. I think Florida made some changes and found a way to win.”

Anything you saw after the first set that changed? Or was it more of a gradual thing for them to get the momentum back?

“I think that they were able to side-out pretty quickly. They’re an aggressive team. We came out pretty strong and served tough. I thought [Jess] Mruzik was passing well. I think Florida played a great match.”

What did you learn about your team tonight?

“Hey, you have to find a way to win. You have to find a way to close a set out when you’re receiving or even serving on set point. It’s a game of errors, for sure, but when you’re that close, you have to finish it.”

Ladies, what about the end of the match? You had three set points there to take it to a fifth set. Was it just a lot of little things that went wrong at bad times? Why weren’t you able to close it out?

Podraza: “I think Florida out-played us. I think we talk a lot about us being able to be a better team than what we showed, and I don’t think that was the team that we’re able to be. I think that showed us where we need to go. But I think it’s as simple as Florida out-worked us and we didn’t play like we know how to.”

Holland: “It obviously stings there at the end. We had so many chances to close it out, and I think that we have to learn from that.”

Coach, what could this mean for the team to have this to learn from right away? There’s a long way until December.

KSC: “Yeah, it’s a long season, but I think to win big matches like that, you have to be able to figure it out quicker. We need to make some adjustments. Georgia Tech is a great team, so we have to turn around tomorrow and play better volleyball.”

For the players, what about just starting the season like this with a high-caliber opponent and a tough match? I know it’s disappointing right now. Can this be something you can build on and learn from way down the line?

Podraza: “100 percent. I think we’re going to be thankful for it at some point. It might sting right now, but playing in the best conference in the nation, the Big Ten, you can’t just play no-name teams all year. Starting the season off with highly ranked opponents is what’s going to help us later in the season. I’m thankful for our schedule. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. We will be thankful for it more later.”

Holland: “Yeah, I agree. I’m super thankful to have a hard preseason schedule, because I think that we learn something from wins and we learn something from losses. Playing these good teams, iron sharpens iron, and we’re going to need that later in the season.”

Coach, being here in Tampa, whether you win or lose, what has been your experience? It looks like you’ve been treated well by everybody.

KSC: “Yeah, I think it’s an honor and privilege to be in this tournament. The fact that we were one of the teams invited to play here, they’ve treated us really well. Tampa does a great job. It’s an amazing tournament.”

For the captains, what were some things you thought Florida did particularly well tonight?

Podraza: “I thought they were the aggressors. They found holes in our block, they found holes in our court. They came at us, and we didn’t necessarily return that. I think they were good on offense.”

What stood out about Alexis Stucky and Kennedy Martin having impressive nights?

Holland: “Stucky’s a great setter. It’s hard to read her. I thought she did a great job spreading out the offense to make it harder for our defense. Obviously, they had a great night, and there are a lot of things that we learned from it.”

What’s your message to the team heading into tomorrow?

Podraza: “Flush it and go get better. Let’s go compete tomorrow, because that’s all we can do. It’s a choice.”

Holland: “Yeah, short memory, because we play back-to-back nights all season, so we have to get used to turning it around and getting ready for another team.”

Coach, what are some things you want to see the team work on?

KSC: “Be able to finish. Be able to compete. And stick together.”

As far as the serve-pass game, how important is that moving forward?

KSC: “It’s a big, big part of the game. I thought we started off serving pretty aggressively and were passing okay. I think that those are two areas that we work on a lot and we need to be better at.”