No. 15 Penn State women’s volleyball beat No. 13 Minnesota 3-1 Saturday night at Maturi Pavilion in one of its most difficult Big Ten road matches of the regular season.
Senior middle blocker Taylor Trammell had a career-high 16 kills, hit .800, and added two total blocks for the Nittany Lions (10-3, 4-0 Big Ten), who have won 10 of their last 11 matches. Jess Mruzik (21 kills, 15 digs) and Mac Podraza (47 assists, 12 digs) had double-doubles in front of a crowd of 5,312 in Minneapolis.
𝙒𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙖𝙫#WeAre
🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/kr7JN5ArdW— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) October 1, 2023
Sophomore libero Gill Grimes was phenomenal from the service line Saturday night, recording a career-high four aces on top of her match-high 16 digs and seven assists against the Golden Gophers, who fell to 6-6 and 2-2 in conference play. Alexa Markley came off the bench and tallied 10 kills as one of three substitutes for the Nittany Lions, joining Cassie Kuerschen (eight digs, one ace, one assist) and Quinn Menger.
Penn State capitalized on Minnesota’s mistakes at the line, as the Golden Gophers surrendered 14 service errors. The Nittany Lions were more productive than previous matches in terms of their service pressure, recording seven aces and only six errors. Mruzik had two key aces on another outstanding all-around night for the senior outside hitter. Anjelina Starck had eight digs and two assists.
Allie Holland was efficient offensively with seven kills and a .312 hitting percentage, but she made her biggest impact on the defensive side with a match-high seven total blocks to help the Nittany Lions out-block Minnesota 9-8. They also owned a 64-47 advantage in digs and and held Minnesota to a .247 hitting percentage despite Taylor Landfair’s impressive outing with 16 kills (.394).
Podraza, who added four total blocks and three kills, led Penn State’s offense to a .346 clip, including .560 in a crucial third-set win and .464 in the first. After some early-season struggles, Podraza and Penn State’s attackers are looking much more comfortable through the first four matches of Big Ten play, and it’s translating to statement wins on the court.
The Nittany Lions return to Rec Hall for a pair of home matches against Indiana and Ohio State on Alumni Weekend, when the program will honor its 2008 and 2013 NCAA national championship teams, which are celebrating their 15- and 10-year anniversaries this fall. Penn State plays Steve Aird’s Hoosiers Friday at 7 p.m. before hosting Jen Flynn Oldenburg’s Buckeyes the following night at 6:30 p.m. in a televised match on Big Ten Network.