Penn State women’s volleyball pulled off a comeback for the ages Thursday night to defeat Nebraska 3-2 (23-25, 18-25, 25-23, 28-26, 15-13) and advance to the NCAA Championship match for the first time since 2014.
In a semifinal battle of No. 1 seeds at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, the Nittany Lions (34-2) erased a two-set deficit and saved two match points in the fourth set to complete the reverse sweep against a talented Cornhusker team (33-3).
Awaiting Penn State in the final is hometown Louisville, which the Nittany Lions swept 3-0 in a Sept. 3 match at Rec Hall. The Cardinals, who defeated Pitt in the night’s other semifinal between No. 1 seeds, and Nittany Lions will meet at 3 p.m. Sunday for the title, with the match airing live on ABC.
Takeaways
- What a comeback. After being down two sets and facing two match points in the fourth set, it looked like it was over for the Nittany Lions, but they showed a tremendous amount of resilience to pull off the comeback against an elite Nebraska team.
- Penn State’s catalyst was Jess Mruzik once again. After struggling in the first two sets, she played an instrumental role in the comeback. Not only did she lead the team with 26 kills, but she also came up clutch whenever the team needed it.
- Even though Mruzik was the hero for Penn State, the impact that Camryn Hannah and Caroline Jurevicius had in this match cannot go unnoticed. The duo combined for 36 of the team’s 71 kills and it was Hannah’s kill that completed the reverse sweep for Penn State.
How It Happened
The first set started with Nebraska winning the first point on a solo block by Rebekah Allick before Caroline Jurevicius’s kill got Penn State on the board. The Cornhuskers went on a 3-0 run right after to take a three-point lead as they took advantage of Andi Jackson’s kill and consecutive errors by Jess Mruzik.
Both teams went back and forth for the next four points as Nebraska’s lead stayed intact. Camryn Hannah’s kill and an attack error by Allick allowed the Nittany Lions to get within one point of tying the set at six. However, Allick redeemed on the next point with a kill to give the Cornhuskers a 7-5 lead. After a block assist by Izzy Starck and Taylor Trammell got Penn State within one point of Nebraska’s lead once again, Nebraska responded with consecutive points to extend its lead to three.
After Jurevicius’s kill ended the Cornhuskers’ run of consecutive points, Nebraska put its foot on the gas and went on a 3-0 run to increase its lead to five. This forced Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley to take a timeout hoping for her team to regain its footing.
This timeout paid off as the Nittany Lions responded right away by winning consecutive points to trim their deficit to three. After Gillian Grimes’ service error ended this run, Penn State showed its resilience and went on a 3-0 run to decrease its deficit to one. This run was highlighted with kills by Mruzik and Maggie Mendelson along with a service ace by Ava Falduto. This forced the Cornhuskers to take a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Nittany Lions tied the set at 13 right away before an attack error by Nebraska’s Harper Murray gave them their first lead of the set. Both teams traded points before Mruzik’s service ace extended Penn State’s lead to two. This lead was short-lived as the Cornhuskers won back-to-back points to tie the set at 16.
Both teams traded blows for the next eight points as the deadlock stayed intact. After an attack error by Jurevicius allowed Nebraska to regain its lead, Mruzik and Jurevicius came up big for Penn State as they recorded back-to-back kills to take a 22-21 lead which forced the Cornhuskers to take a timeout hoping to regain their momentum.
After the timeout, both teams exchanged points before a service ace by Nebraska’s Merritt Beason tied the set at 23.
Out of a Penn State timeout, Nebraska kept riding its momentum and got its first set-point opportunity on a kill by Andi Jackson. The Cornhuskers capitalized on the opportunity with another kill by Jackson to finish off a critical first set at 25-23.
2nd Set
The second set got underway with the Nittany Lions getting off to a fast start by recording three consecutive kills. These kills were recorded by Trammell, Jurevicius, and Mruzik. Nebraska’s defense was on display as they recorded three consecutive block assists before Murray’s kill gave it the lead in the set. After Penn State won back-to-back points to regain its lead, the Cornhuskers showed their resilience and recorded three consecutive kills to take a 7-5 lead in the set.
Mruzik and Jackson traded kills before kills by Izzy Starck and Hannah tied the set at eight. However, Nebraska’s head coach John Cook challenged the call claiming that the ball was not touched by one of her players before it went out of bounds. This challenge was successful, and Nebraska’s lead was restored. This overturned call gave the Cornhuskers a lot of momentum as they went on to win back-to-back points to extend their lead to four and force the Nittany Lions to take a timeout.
After Hannah recorded a kill out of the timeout, Nebraska continued to seize its momentum and went on a 4-0 run to increase its lead to seven. That led Katie Schumacher-Cawley to take another timeout hoping for her team to regain its footing in the set.
Penn State could not stop the bleeding after the timeout as Allick and Taylor Landfair recorded a block assist to take a 16-8 lead. However, the Nittany Lions started to show signs of life and went on a 4-0 run to trim their deficit to four. The run was highlighted with three kills by Jurevicius and a solo block by Trammell forcing the Cornhuskers to take a timeout hoping to end Penn State’s momentum.
Both teams traded blows out of the timeout before Nebraska won back-to-back points to extend its lead to six. Jurevicius and Jackson exchanged kills before back-to-back kills by Penn State to decrease its deficit to four once again. However, the Cornhuskers refused to let the Nittany Lions gain any momentum and went on a 3-0 run to take a 23-16 lead.
Right after Murray committed a service error, Quinn Menger returned the favor and committed a service error to give Nebraska its first set point. The Cornhuskers could not take advantage of their first opportunity as Trammell recorded a kill to keep the Nittany Lions alive in the set. The service errors kept mounting for Penn State, though, as Starck recorded a service error on Nebraska’s second set point that ended the set at 25-18 and gave the Cornhuskers a two-set lead heading into the third set.
3rd Set
Jurevicius’s kill gave Penn State the first point of the set as the third set got underway. After Mruzik recorded a kill on the next point, Nebraska responded with back-to-back kills to tie the set at two. Both teams exchanged points before a kill by Jackson gave the Cornhuskers their first lead in the set.
The lead was short-lived as the Nittany Lions responded with back-to-back kills by Jurevicius and Jordan Hopp to regain the lead. Murray and Hannah traded kills before three consecutive kills by the Cornhuskers allowed them to retake the lead. Both teams went back and forth for the next four points before Penn State refused to give up and went on a 3-0 run to regain its lead. The run was highlighted with a kill by Jurevicius and two block assists which forced Nebraska to take a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Nittany Lions started to seize their momentum and won back-to-back points to increase their lead to three. After Murray’s kill ended Penn State’s run at five, Mruzik recorded back-to-back kills to take a 15-11 lead. The Cornhuskers responded right away with back-to-back kills to decrease their deficit to two.
Both teams traded blows for the next four points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. However, the Nittany Lions refused to let the Cornhuskers gain momentum as Hannah’s kill and service ace by Menger extended their lead to four. Both teams exchanged errors before Nebraska took a timeout.
After the timeout, the Cornhuskers refused to go away and won back-to-back points to get within two of the Nittany Lions’ lead. Both teams exchanged points before a kill by Harper trimmed the deficit to one for Nebraska.
A timeout paid dividends as Penn State took advantage of Nebraska’s consecutive attack errors to get within two points of winning the third set. The Cornhuskers showed their resilience and responded with back-to-back points to get within one of tying the set.
Jurevicius recorded a huge kill for the Nittany Lions on the next point to give them their first set-point opportunity. Murray’s kill saved a set point for Nebraska but on its second opportunity, Penn State refused to let the opportunity slip away and Murray recorded an attack error to win the set at 25-23 and force a fourth set.
4th Set
The fourth set started with the Nittany Lions seizing their momentum from the third set by winning the first three points of the set before Grimes’s service error got the Cornhuskers on the board. Both teams exchanged kills before back-to-back kills increased Penn State’s lead to four.
Both teams traded blows for the next four points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. However, Nebraska showed its resilience and went on a 3-0 run to get within one of tying the set at eight. The Nittany Lions refused to let the Cornhuskers seize their momentum and responded with back-to-back kills to take a 10-7 lead in the set.
After Nebraska won back-to-back points to trim its deficit to one, Jurevicius recorded a huge kill to give Penn State some breathing room. However, the Cornhuskers responded by winning back-to-back points to tie the set at 11. The Nittany Lions continued to fight and went on a 3-0 run to take a critical three-point lead. This run was highlighted with a kill by Mruzik and a solo block by Hopp which forced the Cornhuskers to take a timeout.
After both teams traded kills out of the timeout, Nebraska showed its resilience and went on a 3-0 run to tie the set at 15.
Out of a Penn State timeout, the Cornhuskers took their first lead in the set due to an attack error by Hannah. Nebraska continued to seize its momentum as Murray recorded a service ace and kill to increase its lead to three. After Murray’s error on the next point ended Nebraska’s run, Penn State could not stop the bleeding as Nebraska won back-to-back points to take a 20-16 lead in the set.
The Cornhuskers continued to dominate out of another timeout as they recorded back-to-back block assists to get within three points of winning the match. However, the Nittany Lions refused to go away and responded with a critical 3-0 run to trim their deficit to three and force Nebraska to take a timeout.
After the timeout, both teams traded points before back-to-back kills by Penn State got it within one of tying the set at 23. Allick recorded a huge kill on the next point to give Nebraska its first match-point opportunity. However, the Nittany Lions refused to let their season come to an end as Mruzik and Jurevicius recorded huge kills to save two match points. After that, the tables turned, and Grimes’s ace gave Penn State its first set point. The Nittany Lions could not capitalize as Mruzik committed an attack error to tie the set at 25.
This trend continued for the next two points as neither team took advantage of their opportunities. But Penn State showed its resilience, and Mruzik and Hannah recorded huge kills to win the set at 28-26 and send this match into a decisive fifth set.
5th Set
The fifth set started with Beason recording the first kill for Nebraska before Jurevicius’s kill on the next point got Penn State on the board. Both teams traded points before a 3-0 run by the Nittany Lions gave them a 5-2 lead in the set. This run was highlighted with a service ace by Falduto which forced the Cornhuskers to take a timeout.
Out of the timeout, both teams went back and forth for the next eight points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. However, Nebraska refused to throw in the towel and recorded back-to-back kills to trim its deficit to one.
Mruzik recorded a huge kill for the Nittany Lions after a Penn State timeout to give themselves some breathing room. The kill gave Penn State momentum as it went on to win consecutive points to take a 12-8 lead in the set which led to Nebraska taking another timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Cornhuskers continued to fight back, winning back-to-back points to decrease their deficit to two. Schumacher-Cawley took her final timeout there to regroup her team for the homestretch.
After the timeout, Mruzik continued to come up clutch for Penn State as her kill got it within two points of winning the match. After Murray recorded a kill on the next point, Hannah recorded a huge kill to give the Nittany Lions their first match point. Penn State couldn’t capitalize on its first two-match point opportunities but on its third, Hannah got the kill to finish off the set at 15-13 and complete the reverse sweep for the Nittany Lions.
