No. 15 Women’s Volleyball Opens B1G Play with Sweep of Rutgers

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Jess Mruzik and Allie Holland combined for 27 kills on .568 hitting to lead No. 15 Penn State Women’s Volleyball to a decisive 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-17) win over Rutgers in the Big Ten opener for both teams Wednesday night at Rec Hall.
 
The Nittany Lions improved to 7-3 overall and 1-0 in the conference with their third-straight win. It was their 33^rd-consecutive victory in the series with Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights, who already equaled their win total from all of last season, dropped to 8-3.
 
Mruzik hit .533 with 18 kills and finished off her first double-double at Penn State with 10 digs. Holland hit .643 with nine kills. She was perfect on her first five swings of the match. Camryn Hannah had a solid performance with 10 kills on .350 hitting. That trio took advantage of a strong night from setter Mac Podraza, who finished with 45 assists while leading the team to .390 hitting.
 
Gillian Grimes paced the team in digs with 12, while Cassie Kuerschen and Anjelina Starck contributed eight and seven digs, apiece. Taylor Trammell chipped in with a team-high five blocks to help hold Rutgers to .127 hitting.
 
Taylor Humphrey led Rutgers with eight kills.
 
 
Set 1
Podraza had an amazing 18 assists while leading Penn State to .485 hitting in the first set. Holland was perfect in the first set with four kills on four swings as Penn State started with a 25-17 win. Mruzik was impressive with her seven kills on .700 hitting. The Nittany Lions used a 3-0 run with a kill by Holland and two by Mruzik to go up 5-2 early and never…