Penn State Volleyball’s Comeback Falls Short In Five-Set Loss To Purdue

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 16 Penn State women’s volleyball lost to No. 19 Purdue in five sets Sunday afternoon at Holloway Gymnasium in West Lafayette, Indiana, falling to the Boilermakers for the second time this season.

Jess Mruzik tied her season high with 27 kills, a figure she also tallied against Purdue in a 3-1 loss on October 22 at Rec Hall. Like last time, Purdue outside hitters Chloe Chicoine and Eva Hudson were excellent against the Nittany Lions, but they outdid their previous performances with 27 and 24 kills, respectively, Sunday.

Box Score

The Nittany Lions (15-8, 9-5 Big Ten) hit .000 in the first set, recording nine kills and nine attack errors. They didn’t fare much better in the second set, as Penn State hit .081 and again struggled with errors on its way to a 2-0 deficit.

Mac Podraza and the offense turned things around in the third and fourth sets with significantly improved connections, hitting .333 and .390 to battle back and eventually force a fifth set. Chicoine closed out a 4-2 Purdue run in the fifth set to win the match with her final kill of the afternoon.

Podraza finished with 49 assists, 14 digs, four total blocks, and one of Penn State’s seven aces. Both teams had 12 blocks Sunday, but Purdue freshman setter Taylor Anderson guided the Boilermakers to a .286 hitting percentage, while the Nittany Lions hit .200. Anderson had a match-high 53 assists and nine digs.

Camryn Hannah and Zoe Weatherington joined Mrzuik in double digits with 11 kills apiece in the loss, Penn State’s fifth in its last seven matches, but Allie Holland and Taylor Trammell were held to four and three kills, respectively, each taking 14 swings. Defensive specialists Maddy Bilinovic and Lina Perugini both had six digs against the Boilermakers and were among seven substitutes for Penn State. Perugini’s effort marked a season high for the graduate senior from Bethlehem, PA.

The Nittany Lions will have a chance to get back in the win column Friday at 7 p.m. when they host Michigan (6-17, 4-10 Big Ten), which has won its last three matches against Ohio State, Iowa, and Maryland following a four-set win by the Nittany Lions on October 27 in Ann Arbor. Penn State hosts No. 2 Wisconsin (22-1, 13-1 Big Ten) Saturday at 8 p.m. in a televised match on Big Ten Network.