Penn State Volleyball Reverse Sweeps Maryland

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 14 Penn State women’s volleyball reverse swept Maryland Wednesday night in College Park, beating the Terrapins 3-2 (19-25, 25-27, 25-22, 25-18, 15-9) thanks to dominant blocking and several outstanding performances from its starters.

2021 PSU Roster

Freshman defensive specialist Cassie Kuerschen had a career-high 14 digs in her first start for the Nittany Lions, who were without Erika Pritchard against her former team. Anastasiya Kudryashova and Allie Holland also set new personal bests with 17 and 15 kills, respectively.

Gabby Blossom and Jenna Hampton were excellent in their own right against the Terrapins, who fell to 13-2 on the season after taking an early 2-0 lead over Penn State. Blossom finished with 55 assists, 19 digs, and six blocks while ensuring four of her hitters reached double-digit kills. Hampton put on a show with 23 digs, two shy of her career high, and seven assists.

Jonni Parker (19 kills) and Adanna Rollins (10) had a handful of attack errors and therefore didn’t record very strong hitting percentages, but their impacts on the outcome of the match were undeniable. Both had double-doubles like Blossom. Parker took by far the most swings of any Nittany Lion with 62.

It was another tough serving night for Penn State, which surrendered 10 service errors against the Terrapins after recording nine in a sweep of Ohio State last Sunday. Kuerschen had all three of Penn State’s aces in the come-from-behind win. Penn State outblocked Maryland 17-13.5 in a matchup of two of the top blocking teams in the country.

Overcoming a slow start to beat a talented Maryland team that recently topped then-No. 2 Wisconsin is certainly impressive. The Nittany Lions (10-3, 3-0 Big Ten) will next travel to Bloomington to face former Penn State assistant Steve Aird’s Indiana Hoosiers (7-8, 1-2 Big Ten) Saturday at 6 p.m.

Box Score

Match Details

Penn St. Maryland
Set K E TA % K E TA %
1 15 8 35 0.200 14 1 28 0.464
2 15 6 49 0.184 19 8 53 0.208
3 15 4 40 0.275 14 6 41 0.195
4 16 5 43 0.256 9 7 43 0.047
5 9 3 24 0.250 4 5 25 -0.040
Total 70 26 191 0.230 60 27 190 0.174
Penn St. Maryland
Points 90 74.5
Kills 70 60
Aces 3 1
Blocks 17 13.5
Assists 68 58
Digs 92 87

Match Leaders

Penn St. – Leaders
Kills Jonni Parker (19), Anastasiya Kudryashova (17), Allie Holland (15)
Aces Cassie Kuerschen (3)
Blocks Kaitlyn Hord (9), Allie Holland (8), Jonni Parker (7)
Assists Gabby Blossom (55), Jenna Hampton (7), Jonni Parker (3)
Digs Jenna Hampton (23), Gabby Blossom (19), Cassie Kuerschen (14), Adanna Rollins (14)
Maryland – Leaders
Kills Paula Neciporuka (21), Sam Csire (18), Laila Ricks (7), Hannah Thompson (7)
Aces Milan Gomillion (1)
Blocks Laila Ricks (6), Rainelle Jones (6), Sydney Dowler (5), Hannah Thompson (5)
Assists Sydney Dowler (51), Milan Gomillion (5), Lexy Finnerty (1), Paula Neciporuka (1)
Digs Milan Gomillion (24), Sydney Dowler (17), Kaylee Thomas (14)

Penn State Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
9 Jonni Parker 5 19 11 62 0.129 3 0 0 1 0 7 0 13 0 0 22.5
20 Allie Holland 5 15 1 26 0.538 0 0 0 2 1 7 0 3 2 0 19.5
18 Anastasiya Kudryashova 5 17 4 41 0.317 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 17.5
23 Kaitlyn Hord 5 7 2 21 0.238 1 0 0 0 1 9 1 0 2 0 12
1 Adanna Rollins 5 10 7 37 0.081 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 14 0 0 10.5
13 Gabby Blossom 5 2 0 3 0.667 55 0 0 2 0 6 1 19 0 0 5
12 Cassie Kuerschen 5 0 1 1 -1.000 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 14 0 0 3
15 Jenna Hampton 5 0 0 0 0.000 7 0 0 2 0 0 0 23 0 0 0
11 Katie Clark 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 Annie Cate Fitzpatrick 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 Maddy Bilinovic 3 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
24 Quinn Menger 4 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Total 70 26 191 0.23 68 0 3 10 2 30 2 92 4 0 90

Maryland Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
9 Paula Neciporuka 5 21 8 59 0.220 1 0 0 3 0 2 0 13 0 0 22
44 Sam Csire 5 18 10 72 0.111 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 9 0 2 19.5
6 Laila Ricks 5 7 5 23 0.087 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 6 0 0 10
15 Hannah Thompson 5 7 1 13 0.462 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 1 0 0 9.5
2 Rainelle Jones 5 6 1 19 0.263 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 2 0 0 9
8 Sydney Dowler 5 1 2 4 -0.250 51 0 0 0 0 5 0 17 1 0 3.5
12 Milan Gomillion 5 0 0 0 0.000 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 24 0 0 1
20 Kaylee Thomas 5 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 14 0 0 0
5 Lexy Finnerty 5 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Total 60 27 190 0.174 58 1 1 6 1 25 3 87 1 2 74.5

Box Score