Seton Hall wins their first set against Penn State, Nittany Lions grab sixth win

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Seton Hall showed endurance and won their first historical women’s volleyball set against Penn State in the second set of their match on Saturday.

Blue and white filled Rec Hall with fans from both sides, with the Pride of the Lions Pep Band getting the crowd pumped up for a mid-day matchup.

The first set was a preview of what was to come with Seton Hall leading the entire set until Penn State tied it at 15-15 and ultimately took the set 25-20.

The second set was strikingly similar, though Penn State kept a closer prowl. After being tied at 11 all, the Pirates scored four straight points to go up 15-11.

Senior middle blocker Taylor Trammell for the Nittany Lions said that Seton Hall had a good offensive strategy.

“They were hitting balls off block, which is hard for a defender to pick up,” Trammell said. “They just worked really hard.”

Jenna Walsh matched her momentum in both sets and led the charge for Seton Hall. She recorded four kills and twelve total attempts in the first set, with four kills and eight total attempts in the second. The junior outside hitter hit the 500 career kill milestone earlier in the season.

Seton Hall would take the set away, reversing the score from the first set: 25-20.

Outside hitter Perri Lucas would be close on the prowl for the Pirates as well, recording three kills in the monumental set.

Penn State’s head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley said that the match “exposed things that [they] needed to work on.”

It came down to Penn State’s lack of defense, with 14 of Seton Hall’s 25 points coming on Penn State’s serve.

In addition, Seton Hall tripled Penn State’s amount of blocks with six in the set compared to their opponent’s two.

Schumacher-Cawley added that the defense should have been more aggressive.

“We need to be flying around and more aware of what is going on,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “We need to be able to reset and learn from previous plays and be better as the match goes on.”

The Nittany Lions turned the momentum around and controlled the rest of the match. They would go on to win 25-14 in the third set and 25-19 in the fourth.

Senior Jess Mruzik was the leading scorer for Penn State, scoring a 20-kill game with 49 total attempts. This is not surprising with Mruzik being the leading scorer in her team’s win against UMBC the night before and their earlier loss against No. 2 Louisville.

Camryn Hannah recorded nine kills of her own in the match. The redshirt senior recorded her 1,000th career kill in Penn State’s 3-0 victory over UMBC.

The two teams have played each other four times, with Penn State winning ten straight sets. They haven’t battled since 2010 and the last three times were all at Rec Hall.

This match concluded the Nittany Lions’ play in the Penn State Classic. UMBC will take on Seton Hall on Sunday afternoon.

Penn State improves to 4-0 against Seton Hall all-time and 6-3 overall this season. They will open up Big 10 play when they host Rutgers at Rec Hall on Wednesday.

Allie Wenskoski is a second-year broadcast journalism student. To contact her, please email amw7637@psu.edu.