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No. 3 Penn State Women’s Volleyball defeats No. 11 Oregon 3-0 in dominant Wear White match

Madoc Meredith October 5, 2024

No. 3 Penn State Women’s Volleyball (14-1, 4-0 Big Ten) controlled No. 11 Oregon (11-2, 3-1 Big Ten) 3-0 on Friday night in the annual Wear White match.

With an announced crowd of 4,606 fans at Rec Hall, the Nittany Lions dominated the Ducks at the net with 42 kills en route to their fourth conference win.

How it happened

Katie Schumacher-Cawley fielded a starting lineup consisting of Taylor Trammell, Jess Mruzik, Anjelina Starck, Caroline Jurevicius, Izzy Starck, Maggie Mendelson and Gillian Grimes.

Anjelina Starck served Penn State early in the game, but a quick kill off a loose ball from Mimi Colyer gave Oregon a 1-0 lead. Trammell responded before Noemie Glover found a gap with a soft kill to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.

Oregon extended its run to 3-0, but a hard-hit Mruzik kill got the crowd going and cut the deficit to 4-2. Setter Izzy Starck then followed up with a kill before assisting Mruzik on another goal, making it 4-4.

An attack error by Michelle Ohwobete ended a long rally and gave the Nittany Lions their first lead of the set at 5-4. Even with the score tied at 7-7, Ohwobete got another kill to give Oregon a lead, but Cristin Cline’s service error tied the score again.

Ohwobete also hit the ball over the baseline, and Colby Neal and Colyer each made an attack error, making it 12-9 for the blue and white. Then Mruzik’s third kill of the opening set forced Matt Ulmer to call a timeout for Oregon.

A free ball sent by Izzy Starck led to an easy kill for Neal coming out of the break, but a mid-air adjustment and a tackle from Anjelina Starck made it 14-10 for a Trammell kill. However, seconds later, Grimes committed a serving error that gave Oregon a point.

Mruzik scored three straight kills to give the Nittany Lions a 17-11 lead, forcing a second Oregon timeout and sending the crowd into chants of “We Are Penn State.” Immediately after the timeout, the Ducks made two consecutive attack errors, putting Penn State ahead by eight.

Mruzik’s solo block answered a Colyer kill before Onye Ofoegbu had a kill and Ohwobete had a block to cut the Oregon deficit to 20-14. Then Camryn Hannah shot the ball out of bounds and Penn State’s lead shrank to five.

Hoping to get the momentum back, Mruzik got her seventh kill of the night while Trammell added two more to make the score 23-17. After a net violation by Mruzik, Jurevicius scored the lead with a kill. Ofoegbu got a kill off an assist from Cline, making the score 24-19.

Mruzik ended the first set with a kill, her eighth of the frame, in the middle of the court, giving Penn State a 25-19 set 1 win and a 1-0 match lead.

The second set began with a serving error from Cline, but Grimes did the same on the following serve. Ohwobete then returned the favor again, making it 2-1 for Penn State. Ava Falduto had the first flawless serve of the set, which eventually turned into a loud Mruzik kill following an assist from Izzy Starck.

Oregon’s ninth and 10th attack errors of the game were committed by Glover and Colyer, giving Penn State a 5-1 lead, and Ulmer wanted to talk things over with the Ducks. After the timeout, Falduto hit a service ace, but Oregon responded with a few straight points.

Another serving error by Mackenzie Morris gave Penn State a 7-3 lead, but Oregon then strung together two goals in a row. However, a review overturned this as Sophie Gregoire made an attacking error and the score was changed to 8-4. Trammell and Izzy Starck then managed a block together, which meant a lead of five points.

Gregoire had a quick kill, and after a couple of Ducks dove to the ground to keep the next play alive, Trammell shot the ball out of bounds, bringing Oregon back to within three points. Grimes then assisted Hannah with a kill, making it 10-6 Penn State.

Maya De Los Reyes came on for Oregon and immediately contributed a service ace, but it didn’t take long for Penn State to respond as Hannah got her second kill of the set down the sideline. After Ohwobete scored a kill, Mruzik reached double figures with a free ball kill to make it 12-9.

An Ohwobete kill and a kill and block from Glover made it 12-12, and the Ducks extended their run to 4-0 with a Morris-assisted Gregoire kill. Mendelson tied the score at 13-13 with a kill in the middle of the court before scoring a second goal on the ensuing possession as the ball trickled over the net.

Mendelson and Izzy Starck then combined for a block on the sideline, while Mendelson also had a solo block on the next play, leading to a 4-0 run for Penn State and causing an Oregon timeout as the Nittany Lions were in the lead with 16:13.

After the break, Gregoire and Ohwobete silenced the crowd by scoring a kill each, but Gregoire then made a mistake in attack, putting the Blue and Whites ahead 17-15.

The set continued back and forth, but Mruzik stepped up for a solo block to give Penn State a 21-18 lead. Then Jurevicius made a kill while Cline made an attack error, giving Penn State a four-point lead. Mruzik then defended a loose ball to score the point.

With fans on their feet, Ohwobete’s attack error gave the Nittany Lions a 25-19 win in the second set, extending their lead in the game to 2-0.

The third set started close as the two teams shared the first four points, but two offensive errors by the Ducks made it 4-2 to Penn State early on and forced Oregon to call a timeout. After breaking the scrum, Grimes made a serving error, while Mruzik made a diving dive after the next long rally, leading to a kill from Mendelson.

Anjelina Starck led a long kill to float out of bounds and it worked in her favor, she went just past the end line and Mendelson got her fourth block, leading to the Ducks using their second timeout of the set, while Penn State led 8-3.

During halftime, a chant of “We Are Penn State” broke out between the cheerleaders and fans, but Ofoegbu quickly silenced them with a lightly tapped kill. Mendelson moved from left to right and had to record another kill. Hannah followed with another Penn State kill, and after a failed challenge attempt by Oregon, the score was 10-4 for the Blue and White.

The Nittany Lions scored four of the next five points as they took a 14-5 lead, but the final point was reversed and the score was 13-6. It didn’t take long for Penn State to score its 14th point, however, as Mruzik confidently made her 14th kill.

Oregon scored a few points, but Penn State extended its lead to 17-11 on a Jurevicius kill, to which Neal responded, but Mendelson followed with another kill for the blue and white. Mruzik then shot the ball into an Oregon blocker, but the ball fell to the ground, making the score 19-12.

Hannah got her fifth kill of the night to give the Nittany Lions a 21-14 lead, but after a cross from Quinn Menger that went over the net, Ofoegbu got her seventh kill. Hannah then responded with another kill to bring the lead back to seven.

Izzy Starck and Roberta Pusharaj then traded serving errors back and forth, resulting in a score of 23-16. An attack error by Glover then gave the set and the match point at 24:16.

After Oregon scored a point on an Ohwobete kill, Starck set up Mruzik for the game-winning kill. The kill was Mruzik’s 16th of the night, and after winning the third set 25-17, Penn State handed Oregon its first conference loss. of the year with a 3-0 win.

Takeaways

After the team averaged 23 kills in the last two games, Mruzik didn’t let up on Friday, posting eight kills for a .375 hitting percentage in the first set.
Mendelson’s performance in the second set, where she either killed or blocked four straight points, proved to be crucial for Penn State. Not only did the spurt stop a 4-0 Oregon run, it also gave the Nittany Lions a run of their own as Mendelson brought the energy back to Rec Hall.
Penn State’s hitters were very efficient throughout the game, posting a .284 batting average as a team, compared to Oregon’s .075 batting average.

What’s next?

The Nittany Lions have a week off before traveling to East Lansing to face Michigan State on Friday, October 11th at 7 p.m.

Tagged:Big 10 big 10 volleyball Big Ten Big Ten Volleyball Katie Schumacher-Cawley Michigan State ncaa vb Nittany Lions Onward State Penn State Penn State vb Penn State Volleyball PSU VB psu wvb Rec Hall Student Student Area vb Volleyball Wear She White whiteout

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