Penn State women's volleyball continues Big Ten success against Michigan State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Despite a slow start, No. 4 Penn State racked up their 12th win of the season against the Michigan State Spartans 3-1.

Michigan State took the first set of the match 25-23 but wasn’t able to capture another one despite a quality effort.

“We have some things we have to work on, but that’s a feisty Michigan State team that’s going to win some matches,” said head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley about the tight matchups each set.

The players also emphasized the desire to improve on being ready early as well as the errors on offense.

“I think we made a lot of errors and errors that we haven’t been making…I thought the second set on, we were keeping balls in play and passing a little bit better,” said Maggie Mendelson after a 14-kill performance.

Penn State wasn’t able to get consistent offense in the first set but was able to break through the next set with a 25-17 victory.

A big reason this offense finally got going in the second set was Jess Mruzik.

She was able to put up a 29-kill performance to go along with 10 digs.

Even with the incredible offensive performance, she gave credit to her teammates including freshman setter Izzy Starck.

“Our defenders did a good job of putting Izzy in a good spot to feed myself and Maggie the ball.”

Michigan State continued pressure each set, scoring at least 20 points in the third and fourth sets.

Taylor Preston led the Spartans in kills with 18. She also has seven digs and two blocks.

“You need to be focused and ready to go,” said Shumacher-Cawley when asked about going up against scrappy Big Ten teams, “That’s what makes this conference so great, every match is exciting and you have to be focused.”

The Spartans certainly put up a good fight but couldn't handle the dominant swings from Penn State’s front row.

Maggie Mendelson was able to provide tough swings with consistency, nearly converting half of her swings for kills with a 48% hitting percentage.

Camryn Hannah and Taylor Tremmell also provided double-digit kills.

Hannah had 11 and Tremmell had 10.

The Spartans were able to defend the Nittany Lions with quality defense

Nalani Iosia led the team with 14 and Akasha Anderson had 10.

The Nittany Lions improve to 2-0 in Big Ten play, while the Spartans fall to 0-2.

Penn State will host Maryland in another Big Ten clash on Thursday, Oct. 3.

Michigan State will also try to rebound in conference action at Indiana on Friday, Oct. 4.

Ben Barker is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email bsb5566@psu.edu.