Jess Mruzik, a Penn State graduate, has played Big Ten volleyball for five years but is playing for the Nittany Lions for just the second time. Mruzik, the 2019 Gatorade National Player of the Year, traveled to Michigan as the No. 4 overall recruit in the 2020 class and had a standout career in Ann Arbor before heading to Happy Valley in 2023. On Wednesday night at Rec Hall, she said: She will have her third and possibly final opportunity to dominate her former team.

Last season, the reigning first-team All-Big Ten outside hitter led the Nittany Lions to a four-set win in Ann Arbor with 18 kills and recorded a team-high 13 kills in a win over the Wolverines at home. Now in 2024, Mruzik, who earned an All-American Honorable Mention at Michigan in 2021 and was a second-team All-American in 2023, has led No. 3 Penn State to a 20-1 start with an outstanding record of 10: Leading 0 in Big Ten play.

That undefeated conference streak should continue against the 16-5 (6-4) Wolverines. Offensively, Penn State is No. 1 in the Big Ten in kills per set behind Mruzik’s 4.57, which is second best in the conference behind Ohio State’s Emily Londot. It’s not just about raw offensive firepower either, as with true freshman setter Izzy Starck, the No. 1 recruit in the high school class of 2024, head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s team sits third in the league with a .294 batting average Conference and trails only Wisconsin and fellow undefeated Nebraska.

Heading into this rivalry game against her former team, Mruzik recorded a team-high 16 kills in Penn State’s four-set win over No. 16 USC in LA on Saturday. However, she had nine attacking errors and only reached 0.143, which the 1.90 meter tall outside player will hopefully want to make up for on Wednesday evening. Michigan is allowing opponents to hit .184 but is averaging the fewest blocks per set of any Big Ten team, so it could be a good rebounding spot for Mruzik after an inefficient road trip.

Wednesday night’s game at the Rec begins at 7:30 p.m. ET and can be seen on the Big Ten Network.