No. 4 Penn State women’s volleyball upsets No. 2 Nebraska for a share of Big Ten title

Penn State’s entire season has been a collision course with Nebraska. Then, Friday evening at Rec Hall, Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s No. 4 ranked Nittany Lions finally met the No. 2 Cornhuskers with at least a share of the Big Ten title on the line. 

In the showdown, Penn State handed Nebraska its first Big Ten loss of the season in four sets (25-21, 14-25, 25-22, 25-23) in the Nittany Lion’s regular-season finale. However, Penn State didn’t arrive at this matchup unbeaten after an early November loss to Wisconsin in Madison, so the Cornhuskers still have a chance to share the conference championship with a win over Maryland at College Park tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. ET. If the Terrapins pull off the upset, Penn State will win the Big Ten title outright. 

While most of the season it has been superstar outside hitter Jess Mruzik, Penn State was led to the win by a former Cornhusker. This offseason, redshirt freshman Caroline Jurevicius transferred from Lincoln to Happy Valley, and on Friday night, that decision paid off for Jurevicius and Schumacher-Cawley. Jurevicius hit .414 and had a game-high 18 kills on just 29 attempts. 

Both teams sold out to stop the other’s star outside hitter. As a team, the Nittany Lions were held in check, hitting just 0.152, and Mruzik hit .000 with 10 kills and 10 errors on her 52 swings. Nebraska hit only 0.154, and sophomore Harper Murray managed just 13 kills on 37 attempts with five errors (0.216). Murray was a third-team All-American as a true freshman last season, but Schumacher-Cawley ensured she didn’t play like it at Rec Hall with the conference title on the line. 

Nebraska sophomore middle blocker Andi Jackson was the most efficient player for Nebraska, notching 10 kills on 15 attempts with no errors. However, Jackson didn’t have the volume to carry the Cornhuskers the way Jurevicius did. Penn State true freshman setter Izzy Starck got just enough out of her offense to pull off the upset of Nebraska with 46 assists. 

This is the Nittany Lion’s first Big Ten title since they shared it with Nebraska back in 2017 when both finished at 19-1. Wisconsin has won the conference in each of the last four seasons. This is the program’s 18th Big Ten title, the most in conference history, and the first under Schumacher-Cawley who won a National Title as a player at Penn State in 1999.