Penn State Volleyball’s Season Ends In 3-1 Loss To Wisconsin

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 5 seed Penn State women’s volleyball lost to No. 1 seed Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 for the second season in a row, falling to the Badgers in four sets Thursday night in front of 7,229 in Madison.

The Nittany Lions finished the season 23-9 after beating Yale and Kansas in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament before dropping Thursday’s Big Ten clash in the regional semifinals. Jess Mruzik (15 kills, 14 digs) and Mac Podraza (38 assists, 13 digs) had double-doubles in the loss.

Box Score

Penn State hit .326 in an impressive second-set turnaround to even things up at 1-1, but the Badgers, fueled by four players with double-digit kills, were able to limit their errors and put the Nittany Lions away with a pair of strong showings in the third and fourth sets. Wisconsin dominated the blocking game with a 17-4 advantage, including a match-high 10 total blocks from Caroline Crawford.

Big Ten Player of the Year Sarah Franklin tied Mruzik with a match-high 15 kills. Both players took exactly 53 swings Thursday night — 20-plus more than the next-closest player on either team. Zoe Weatherington and Camryn Hannah had 12 and nine kills, respectively, takings 33 swings apiece, but Hannah struggled with consistency and had 14 attack errors.

Taylor Trammell and Allie Holland combined for 10 kills against the Badgers, but weren’t able to generate much momentum offensively, as the Nittany Lions had a tough time working the ball to the middle. On the defensive end, Gill Grimes tied Mruzik with a team-high 14 digs. Mruzik had Penn State’s lone service ace of the match, but the Badgers only generated two aces of their own. Maddy Bilinovic and Anjelina Starck had nine and five digs, respectively.

After winning 49 matches during her first two seasons as head coach of the Nittany Lions, Katie Schumacher-Cawley and her staff head into the offseason needing to replace a handful of key contributors. Podraza wrapped up her decorated collegiate career in Madison and will likely earn AVCA All-American honors alongside Mruzik when the awards are announced in the coming days.