In Big Ten women’s volleyball, No. 3 Penn State 19-1 (9-0) and No. 2 Nebraska 18-1 (8-0) have been on a collision course all season, heading towards their November 29 meeting in Happy Valley. However, on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, UCLA presented a fairly significant speed bump for the Nittany Lions.
After going up 2-1 with a convincing 25-15 third-set victory, Penn State dropped Set 4 to force a decisive fifth-set and put their unbeaten Big Ten record on the line. However, the Nittany Lions rallied behind three fifth-set kills by veteran outside hitter Camryn Hannah. Hannah finished with 15 kills, Jess Mruzik posted a team-high 16 to lead a balanced offensive attack, and star freshman setter Izzy Starck finished with 45 assists, still 10 short of her career high. Starck also recorded a double-double with a team-high 14 digs.
UCLA played Penn State to a near stalemate aside from a few additional attacking errors that ultimately cost them the match, or at least a better shot in the fifth set. That is a bit concerning for a Penn State team whose lone loss on the season is to unbeaten No. 1 ranked Pitt. UCLA is 3-6 in Big Ten play now and 9-9 on the season. However, cross-country travel has been an issue in many other sports across the Big Ten, so a win is a win.
The Nittany Lions must play better, especially offensively on Saturday night at No. 16 USC. The Trojans are 14-5 and 6-3 in conference play after a five-set Thursday night loss to Michigan State. Mruzik and Hannah will have to match USC’s 6-foot-5 graduate outside hitter Ally Batenhorst who is seventh in the Big Ten in kills. The Nebraska transfer averaged 2.25 kills/set for the Cornhuskers in 2023.