Penn State Volleyball Swept By Pitt In Front Of Record Crowd

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 3 Penn State women’s volleyball suffered its first loss of the 2024 season Wednesday night in Oakland in front of a Pitt program-record crowd of 11,800 at the Petersen Events Center.

In the first top-five matchup between these two programs and only the sixth when both are ranked, No. 1 Pitt swept the Nittany Lions (8-1) to cut Penn State’s lead in the all-time series to 33-20. Torrey Stafford was nearly flawless for the Panthers (7-0), who have yet to drop a set this season. Stafford had a match-high 17 kills, only one attack error, eight digs, and hit .571. Olivia Babcock had 13 kills, five digs, and four blocks.

Box Score

Pitt finished the match with a .385 hitting percentage, including .406 in the second set, as senior setter Rachel Fairbanks guided the Panthers to a dominant showing with 42 assists, eight digs, and two of Pitt’s six aces. Izzy Starck, who had 26 assists and six digs, was the only Penn State player to record an ace Wednesday night, tallying two.

Pitt opened up a quick 6-1 lead to start the match, as the noise from the home crowd caused some communication issues for Penn State’s lineup. Athough the Nittany Lions bounced back from a .108 hitting percentage in the first set by hitting .300 in the second, it wasn’t enough to claw back and even things up. Penn State cut Pitt’s lead to 18-17 in the second set, but struggled down the stretch to face a 2-0 hole.

Camryn Hannah led the Nittany Lions with 10 kills (.333) and three digs in the loss. She and Jess Mruzik (seven kills, three digs) were the only Penn State players to surpass 20 swings in the match, but Taylor Trammell had another efficient night with six kills and zero attack errors on her 16 swings. Gill Grimes had nine digs and Anjelina Starck had eight. Alexa Markley came off the bench and had a nice solo block.

Markley, Hannah, Ava Falduto (one dig), and Quinn Menger (one dig) were Penn State’s only substitutes of the match, which has been a fairly consistent theme so far this season. The Nittany Lions looked out of sorts often and had difficulty generating positive momentum in a hostile environment, something they did to Louisville in their home opener earlier this season. Wednesday’s result no doubt provides some learning opportunities for the team in this last week of non-conference play.

Trammell, Mruzik, and Katie Schumacher-Cawley answered questions in the media room after Penn State’s loss to the Panthers. The full transcript of questions and answers can be found below. The Nittany Lions will be back at Rec Hall this weekend for the Penn State Classic, where they will host James Madison Friday at 6 p.m. and Yale Sunday at 2 p.m.

Katie Schumacher-Cawley spends a few moments with her setter, Izzy Starck, before the Pitt match.

Opening statement:

KSC: “Hats off to Pitt. It was a great atmosphere. I thought they played really well, and we looked like a deer in headlights at times. I think our serve-pass game wasn’t great. Pitt played a great match.”

This is the first time this rivalry has been played in the regular season since 2019. What was it like to be in this environment?

KSC: “Yeah, I mean, go Pennsylvania volleyball, right? I think it was an awesome crowd. We talked about embracing this atmosphere. It was I think a great learning lesson for this team. We need to rebound and get better and reset for Friday. It’s a quick turnaround, but I think great teams can do that and learn from it. I’m confident that these seniors will continue to get better and lead this group.”

Jess, what did this group learn from this match tonight?

Mruzik: “We talked at the end of the match. At the end of the day, you either win or you learn. I think, for the first time this season, we felt like we kind of lost our heads a little bit. Our first couple matches, we were very even-keel. Even when things were kind of hitting the fan, we felt like we were going to figure it out. That’s what we said, like, ‘We’ll find it. We’ll find our groove.’ For the first time, we felt like we didn’t really have that control. At the end of the day, we just lost control of our own heads, which is something you can definitely control, and we can control moving forward.”

What was the biggest factor in that losing control of things?

Mruzik: “I don’t know. I mean, maybe, like, the hype of the game? At the end of the day, that’s kind of an excuse that we don’t want to ride. It’s just something that we can control. Whether that’s something that we did as seniors to not help reel it back in, or whatever that may be, we’ll figure it out so it doesn’t happen again moving forward.”

Playing Pitt would have been challenging in any environment, but with them setting an attendance record and the crowd being pretty into it all game, how much did that play a factor in the result? How would you say you handled that environment?

Trammell: “I think that, if Pitt were at our house, I think that this game would have had a different result. But at the end of the day, being here in this environment, I think it’s great, like Katie said, for Pennsylvania volleyball. It just shows that we are the powerhouses right now.”

Katie, did Pitt play as well or better than any other team you’ve played against this year?

KSC: “Oh, for sure. I thought they were flawless at times. They stepped on the gas and didn’t let off. I think that’s what great teams do. We couldn’t side-out quick enough. Defensively, I think we were a little slow. Again, I think that these guys will learn from it. Pitt’s a great team. They’re going to do some really nice things this year. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see them again at the end of the season. That would be fun for all of us, right?”

Taylor, you guys went on a 6-0 run in the third set there and then they came back and took control again. What happened that you guys went from a 6-0 run to all of a sudden not being able to side-out, like she said?

Trammell: “I think that we have our moments where it kind of just clicks in our head and, as a team, we’re like a well-oiled machine. I think you guys saw that with the 6-0 run. I think that everyone kind of just started playing their game a little bit, then we fell out of it. I mean, that’s going to happen in volleyball. Volleyball is a game of errors. But I think, when we’re all working together, we’re unstoppable.”

What makes it hard to plan for such great attackers like Torrey Stafford and Olivia Babcock?

KSC: “I think they’re exceptional players. I think tonight they scored at will. I think it was probably pretty fun for them to be able to score as quickly as they did. They’re great players. We knew that going into the match. I don’t think we adjusted quickly enough. They’re a great team. Again, I think it’s a learning experience for these guys. We’ll get better, get back to work tomorrow, and compete against a good JMU team on Friday.”

Coach, obviously, we’ll have to wait for the TV ratings, but this was a great night with this atmosphere. What do nights like these mean for the sport and what does it need to do to continue to grow?

KSC: “We’ve talked about it before. We’re so lucky to be on this platform right now. It was an unbelievable atmosphere, and I hope this continues. The more times we’re on TV, it can just continue to grow the game. I think we would like to give the fans a little bit better show than that, but I think it was nice to see a bunch of little girls in the crowd cheering these [players] on, from both teams. I know these guys don’t take it for granted. We’ll be better.”