LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 14 Penn State Women’s Volleyball fought off a Yale team with its eyes on an upset Thursday night at Kansas’s Horesji Family Arena, beating the Bulldogs 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-22, 25-16) in the NCAA Tournament First Round.
Penn State improved to 22-8 on the season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round, where it will take on host Kansas on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET. The Nittany Lions are now 25-0 in the opening round of the tournament since it expanded to 64 teams in 1998.
The turning point of the win came in the third set as Penn State fought back from an early 7-0 deficit to get the 25-22 win to avoid going down 2-1 in the match.
Jess Mruzik powered the Nittany Lions’ attack with 19 kills on .486 hitting and added six digs. The Nittany Lions hit .373 as a team, including .550 in the first set and .520 in the fourth set, behind 42 assists from Mac Podraza. The setter tacked on 10 digs to record her third-straight double-double and 12th of the season. She also had three of the team’s eight aces.
Taylor Trammell provided an offensive spark in the middle for Penn State with eight kills on .538 hitting. Allie Holland was strong defensively in the middle, joining Zoe Weatherington with a team-high five blocks. Weatherington added seven kills on .385 hitting.
Gillian Grimes did her part with a team-high 15 digs. Maddy Bilinovic contributed eight.
Yale, which is coached by former Penn State assistant Erin Appleman, closed a great season at 21-4 overall. The Bulldogs were paced by Gigi Barr with 10 kills on .333 hitting….
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Penn State Athletics…