Lincoln, Nebrabon. – The defending national champion Pennsylvania Women's Volleyball Team opened its 50th season in program history, beating Creighton 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 27-25) on Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Nebraska. This is the first time AVCA has played for second place Nittany Lions. They ended Monday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 14th game against Kansas.
Senior middle blockers Jordan Hopp played a big game in his hometown, with the first start of the Pennsylvania jersey. The middle blocker hit 10 kills, 3 blocks and 1 ace hit .562. Hopp took the place where she left last season when she performed with Creighton from the NCAA Regional Finals against Creighton and then again against NCAA National Semivinal in the NCAA National Semivinal.
Kennedy Martin lives up to the hype in her Penn State debut. The junior was named MVP by AVCA after hitting .344's 14 kills, 9 digs, two blocks and one ace. Now, she has recorded double-digit kills in all 54 games of her career, including two All-American seasons in Florida.
Penn State showed a balanced offense after 38 assists from sophomore racer Izzy Starck, who helped five players kill at least six times. Redshirt sophomore Caroline Jurevicius beat eight times, sophomore Emmi Sellman had seven kills in addition to seven digs and two aces, while senior Maggie Mendelson contributed six kills to go along with her five blocks.
The Nittany Lions hit Creighton's clip with a 0.294 mark. Senior Gillian Grimes led the defensive effort with 15 digs, while sophomore Ava Falduto added double digits with 10.
Return to Ava Martin to kill Creighton with .357 hits and added 9 digs.
Set 1
Penn State scored .382 in the opening game with a 25-18 win percentage, and Starck scored 14 assists. Martin made her appear early when .417 hit 6 kills, while Hope hit four kills with .800 behind her. Selman, Givesius and Mendelson killed two times respectively. Grimes started the season well with six digs. Penn State began quitting 21-16 with a 3-0 mark. The run started with Martin’s two kills before Creighton called Timeout. Mendelson and Selman then stood out. After two points from Bluejays, Nittany Lions finished the game with a 4-0 record. Sellman played a role in the first two points of the final, adding Mendelson to the ace. The last two points scored on Creighton attack errors.
Setting 2
Penn State won 25-22 in the second set, with five Penn State players suffering three or more kills led by HOPP. Nittany Lions leads 20-12 in Mendelson's kills. But Creighton showed his perseverance and scored 20 points with a 8-0 mark. Penn State was eventually killed by Martin and Run. She followed the Ace to raise her team 22-20. Bluejay got back within one point in the 22-21 game, but Nittany Lions responded with the next two points, scoring with the Creighton attack error and Hopp kills. Sellman was later killed by Sellman.
Episode 3
Penn State won the game in the third set with a 27-25 victory to win. Nittany Lions dropped as many as 4 in 22-18 before scoring a 22-0 knot with 22. Hopp and Kennedy were killed during the run, while Mendelson and Starck joined forces to block the shot. Creighton scored next, giving himself two shots at the fixed point. The first attempt was killed by Starck, while the second attack error was foiled. Bluejays also has a chance on Set Point at 25-24, but Penn State tied it together with Mendelson and Martin's neighborhoods. Mendelson then worked with Jurevicius for a block, and Jurevicius ended with his eighth defeat.
Next
Second Penn State ended the game in AVCA, playing No. 14 against Kansas State for the first time at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The game is a schedule of 6:30 PM ET and will be aired on the B1G network.