No. 3 Women’s Volleyball Hands UCLA Five-Set Loss – Penn State

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – No. 3 Penn State Women’s Volleyball played its first ever match at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night and came away with a 3-2 (25-21, 19-25, 25-15, 19-25, 15-9) win over UCLA in Big Ten action. The Nittany Lions moved to 19-1 overall and 9-0 in the conference on the season, while the Bruins dipped to 9-9, 3-6.

Penn State won its 11^th-straight match behind a trio of players with double-digit kills and a strong blocking night as a team. Jess Mruzik finished with a team-high 16 kills, Camryn Hannah was one behind her with 15, and Taylor Trammell tallied 11 while hitting .500. Caroline Jurevicius also had an efficient night, hitting .500 with eight kills.

The Nittany Lions racked up 12 blocks in the match. Maggie Mendelson fueled the defensive effort as she was in on eight of those blocks in addition to her seven kills.

Freshman setter Izzy Starck recorded her eighth double-double of the season, finishing with 45 assists, 14 digs six kills, and four blocks. Gillian Grimes also totaled 14 digs to match Starck for the team high. Ava Falduto and Mruzik reached double-digits with 11 and 10 digs, respectively. That gave Mruzik her sixth double-double of the season.

UCLA, which lost in five sets for the fifth time in nine Big Ten matches, was led by Grayce Olson with 20 kills and nine digs. Cheridyn Leverette also had a big statistical night with 19 kills.

Penn State’s win evened the all-time series with UCLA at 7-7. Thursday’s matchup was the first between the teams since 2014.

Set 1
Penn State racked up five blocks in the opening set on its way to a 25-21 win. Mendelson was in on four of the blocks, while Starck took part in three. Trammell provided the offense with three kills on three attacks. The Nittany Lions trailed 13-12 after a 4-0 run by UCLA and still trailed as late as 15-14. Penn State later broke a 19-19 tie with a 3-0 run that started with kills by Mruzik and Alexa Markley. Set point was eventually scored on a kill by Hannah.

Set 2
Olson went off for eight kills to lead UCLA to a 25-19 win in the second set. The Bruins used a 4-0 run to go up 8-6 and held the lead for the rest of the way.

Set 3
A balanced attack helped Penn State win the third set 25-15. Five Nittany Lions combined for the team’s 16 kills, led by Trammell and Jurevicius with four apiece. Hannah and Mruzik each had three, while Starck chipped in with two. The Nittany Lions jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead with a run that was capped by an ace from…