Penn State women's volleyball opened its season with a 1-0 win over Creighton, beating the Blue Jays (0-1) in a three-set sweep. Offensively, the Nittany Lions (1-0) were buzzing, but defense and serve-receive were weak in comparison.
In the first set, Penn State took a seven-point lead and ended it 25-18. While it capitalized on Creighton's inability to respond, the trend was abruptly stopped in the second set when the Nittany Lions had an eight-point lead and let the Blue Jays surge all the way back to even. The 25-22 finish to the second and the 27-25 final score of the third set were indicative of the defensive struggles both teams had.
For the Nittany Lions, specifically, it was Blue Jay outside hitter Ava Martin who was all over the court and became Creighton's main target. In the third set when it had a lead, Penn State had to find away to stop the Blue Jays from running away with a late, consistent multi-point lead to push the match into set four. Even after taking their only timeout down 22-18, though, the Nittany Lions needed to find a push on their own and push the set past 25.
Penn State libero Gillian Grimes was the necessary piece to her team's defense to hold Martin and the rest of the Blue Jays off. She had 15 digs and was all over the back row, but getting the rest of the defense to react as quickly as her was an issue. Junior transfer Kennedy Martin, despite earning MVP of the game and matching Ava Martin's offensive power, wasn't as clean defensively as the Nittany Lions need.
Her six-foot-six-inch frame was beneficial at times in the back row, extending her body all the way through to reach one-arm digs. Being long and lean, though, wasn't always in Penn State's favor. Off Creighton's attack, there were times when Kennedy Martin's upper body reaction was quicker than her legs, forcing her to overreach her torso and arms. This forced bad angles to dig, deflecting the ball off and well beyond the lines of the court.
She wasn't the only one, though. The instinctive defensive reactions of the Nittany Lions gave up a lot of points that Penn State could've had under a controlled, rhythmic back row scheme.
Offensive connections and blocking weren't the issues against the Blue Jays and they shouldn't be things that become struggles down the line in 2025. Heading into their second game of the season, the Nittany Lions will need to keep up with their strong offensive connections while cleaning up defense and instant reactions in the back row off attacks and the serve.
The Nittany Lions face Kansas Monday, Aug. 25 for their second game of the AVCA First Serve tournament. First serve against the Jayhawks is slated for 6:30 p.m. and it'll be another battle to determine if Kansas can push Penn State into four-plus sets. Against Vanderbilt, it sent the game to five and eventually crushed the Commodores 15-4. Monday night's game can be watched on Big Ten Network.