Wearing pink at Penn State women’s volleyball ‘Dig Pink’ match was more than a wardrobe choice.
Over 4,300 fans repped pink at Rec Hall Sunday to support the squad, as well as raise money and awareness for breast cancer patients and survivors. And, in the background, No. 3 Penn State triumphed over No. 14 Minnesota.
Penn State swept the match 25-16, 25-20, and 25-14.
The Nittany Lions had an emotional few days. Not only did their fearless leader Katie Schumacher-Cawley make it public that she, too, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, but they were also taken to task by Big Ten rival Ohio State on Friday.
Schumacher-Crawley coached on Sunday, setting an example for her athletes, showing them perseverance in the face of adversity.
The Nittany Lions, which are now 8-0 in conference like Nebraska, defeated OSU in five sets.
“I think the biggest thing with coming off Ohio State, it was a hard game,” Izzy Stark said. “It was five sets, and it really took a lot out of us. So just being able to come up strong right away and not try to burn through it or use all our energy as best as we can, I think we did a good job of being more steady with it.”
Stark really did shake off the Buckeyes recent memory and left everything on the court. She ended the day with 46 assists.
The first set Sunday was tight. Points four through eight were tied. The Blue and White gained momentum as they took off closer to the end of the set.
Jess Mruzik, who had 18 kills and a .325 hitting percentage, earned her first block when it was needed the most. It added to the lead to make the score 20-16. She then smashed back-to-back kills increasing Penn State’s edge to 23-16, while also keeping the Nittany Lions on a 6-0 scoring run.
Alexa Markley was next and got her first kill of the day to inch the score closer to end it. It was 24-16. Penn State closed out the first set on an 8-0 scoring run. It was sealed by a kill from Mruzik making the score 25-16.
Camryn Hannah had five kills in the first set, which got her to 1,500 career kills. She ended the match with 11.
“I kind of forgot about it until today when I came off the court and all my teammates were cheering me on,” Hannah said. “That’s such a special moment, so I don’t even think it’s about the amount of kills, it’s just the people that I could do it with makes it that much more special. Having that moment with my teammates is really cool.”
Points in the second were very back and forth until Minnesota went up 12-10. They didn’t hold onto the lead for very long, as Quinn Menger got an ace to tie it up at 13.
Action at the net continued was even until Mruzik slammed another kill to give Penn State extra oxygen. Stark and Maggie Mendelson followed her kill with a block to put the Nittany Lions up 22-19.
The Gophers were able to capitalize on another point that narrowed the points when Penn State’s Ava Falduto had a service error to make the score 22-20. Minnesota went on to make errors the rest of the set handing Penn State the 25-20 win in set two.
The third set, it didn’t start as close as the rest of them as the Blue and White quickly dominated it. Penn State went on a 4-0 scoring run with kills by Taylor Trammell, Hannah and Mruzik putting them up 10-4.
The Gophers slowly started to catch up as they went on their own 3-0 scoring run to make it 15-12. During that run, Julia Hanson got her tenth kill and she ended with 11 throughout the match.
That was not enough to stop the Nittany Lions, as right after they went on a 6-0 scoring run making it 21-12.
Mruzik’s 18th kill made it 22-13. She also ended the match with 16 digs. Stark then made it 23-13 with a kill. It was followed by an error from the Gophers to make it 24-13.
Stark, the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the fourth time this season, got a kill to end the third set 25-14.
Minnesota will now head home to take on Northwestern while the Nittany Lions will travel to California to take on UCLA.
Kassie Vasellas is a Female Athlete News student-intern at Penn State University.
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By FAN – US
