No. 3 Penn State women’s volleyball finishes strong to survive against Maryland

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Taylor Trammell’s milestone night highlighted a Thursday evening victory for the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions (13-1 overall, 3-0 Big Ten), as they survived a first set scare to beat Maryland (9-5 overall, 0-3 Big Ten) by a match score of 3-1.

Trammell – the fifth-year middle blocker – did a little bit of everything for the Nittany Lions in the win. In addition to recording 10 kills on an efficient .563 hitting, Trammell crested over 500 blocks for her collegiate career, as she finished the match with a team-high eight.

“It’s a long time coming,” Trammell said post-match of reaching her blocking milestone. “I feel like a granny, obviously, but it’s exciting.”

As a cherry on top, Trammell also made a mark from behind the service line, as she recorded her first-career ace in the match’s third set.

However, for a good chunk of Thursday’s match, it appeared as if Trammell’s personal success could come in a losing effort for the team.

For the second straight match, Penn State struggled to find its footing in the opening set. The Nittany Lions could only muster a .053 hitting percentage in the first frame and fell to the Terrapins by a score of 25-22.

The second set was a back-and-forth affair that saw 10 ties and six lead changes. With things being knotted at 16-16, Camryn Hannah racked up two kills and an ace in a five-point stretch to help Penn State pull away with an eventual 25-20 set win.

Maryland led almost the entirety of the third set and held the advantage at the 20-point mark. But Penn State used an 8-3 run to storm back and win the frame 25-23. Trammell had three kills and a block over that stretch.

The fourth set saw Penn State finally find its dominant form, as the Nittany Lions shut the door on any comeback bid from Maryland by hitting .520 over the final frame en route to a 25-16 victory. Jess Mruzik and Hannah both finished with four kills in the fourth set, giving them 17 and 15 kills for the match, respectively.

Penn State entered the match needing a game plan to slow down Samantha Schnitta, who entered the contest leading the NCAA in service aces. Schnitta led all players in the match with 19 kills and recorded three service aces, but the Nittany Lions defense had a trio of players rack up double-digit digs in response, as Mruzik, Gillian Grimes and Izzy Starck all tallied at least 12.

“I thought our passers did a better job of working together and working their lanes,” coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley said. “I think when we communicate and fly around out there, we do some good things.”

Grimes and Mruzik also added a trio of service aces of their own, as Penn State finished the match with a 9-6 advantage in the ace category.

Penn State will quickly turn around for one of its most anticipated matches of the season. The Nittany Lions will host No. 11 Oregon in a ranked matchup on Friday night and will welcome their new Big Ten foe to the conference by having the Ducks play in the annual “Wear White” match at Rec Hall.

Kasey Kreider is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email kmk6865@psu.edu.