No. 3 Penn State women's volleyball sweeps No. 14 Minnesota in annual 'Dig Pink' match

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A beautiful Sunday afternoon in State College, Pa. turned into a beautiful crowd at the historic Rec Hall.

Today’s game was the annual "Dig Pink" match, supporting breast cancer awareness every single year.

The matchup this Sunday featured Penn State, still ranked at No. 3 overall in the country, taken on by the No. 14 team in the country, the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

In the first set, Penn State was able to take full advantage early on earning a big 25-16 victory going on an 8-0 run to end the set.

Jess Mruzik ended the set leading the team with six kills, but it was also the stellar play of new starter Alexa Markley that stole the show early. She took over for Caroline Jurevicius after she was benched in the win at Ohio State.

Mruzik also led the way in digs for the Nittany Lions through that first set with six as well.

The second set was also won by Penn State. This one was a little bit more contentious as the win was only by five points at 25-20.

Through two sets Taylor Trammell was the most consistent hitter on the court, connecting on 62% of her kill attempts (8) to go along with her five kills.

Minnesota through two sets was led in large part due to the fantastic play of Julia Hanson who led the way with eight kills to start the first two sets.

The problem for the Golden Gophers, the Izzy Starck to Mruzik combination.

Starck, the sister of Anjelina Starck who is a senior on the team, came into this season as the No. 1 recruit in the country for the class of 2024 and she has not disappointed.

In the final set, Penn State stayed as dominant as ever winning the final set by their largest margin at 24-15.

Camryn Hannah finished right behind Mruzik with 11 kills in the game to go along with Taylor Trammell and Maggie Mendelson and eight and seven kills respectively.

Mruzik finished the game with 18 kills, but it was also her double-digit digs (16) that kept Penn State going in this one.

“I think Jess expects to win all the time and she’ll want to take as many swings as she needs to for this group to win,” Head Coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley stated.

Freshman setter Starck and outside hitter Hannah responded to the media as well after the game.

“The game against Ohio State took a lot out of us, and I think we did a good job of being steady with it and figuring out what they do early on in the match today,” Starck said.

“I think we did a good job with just letting them do the things that they do well and just responding to the things that we do well on top of that,” Hannah said.

Minnesota in their next two matches goes back home to host the Northwestern Wildcats and then go on the road to take on Ohio State.

As for the Nittany Lions, they will be going on the road out west to California to take on UCLA on Thursday and then USC on Saturday.

Giustino Racchini is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email him at gar5448@psu.edu.