No. 15 Women’s Volleyball Sweeps Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. – No. 15 Penn State Women’s Volleyball hit .453 on its way to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-21) win over Northwestern in a Big Ten match Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Nittany Lions improved to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the conference with their second Big Ten sweep, while the Wildcats fell to 6-6, 0-2 B1G.
 
Camryn Hannah and Jess Mruzik led a potent offensive attack as Penn State hit .453 behind 36 assists from Mac Podraza. Hannah hit .750 with 16 kills, while Mruzik led all players with 18 kills on .517 hitting.
 
The Nittany Lions saw an improvement in their service game as they tallied five aces. Gillian Grimes had two, while Podraza, Mruzik, and Cassie Kuerschen contributed one apiece.
 
Penn State held Northwestern to .185 hitting thanks to 42 digs compared to 29 by the Wildcats. Grimes led all players with 12. Joining the defensive effort for the Nittany Lions were Kuerschen with nine digs and Anjelina Starck with seven.
 
Leilani Dodson paced Northwestern with six kills on .308 hitting and served for three aces. Julia Sangiacomo led the team with nine kills.
 
Set 1
Penn State hit .471 in a 25-18 win in the first set. Mruzik tallied seven kills on .667 hitting, while Hannah hit .750 with six kills. Podraza racked up 12 assists. The score was tied as late as 14-14 and was still a one-point difference at 16-15 before the Nittany Lions went on a 7-0 run to go up 23-15. Hannah recorded the final three kills of the run. Taylor Trammell eventually had a kill for the set-clinching point.
 
Set 2
Mruzik added six more kills on .455…