No. 7 Women’s Volleyball Sweeps No. 4 Louisville – Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 7 Penn State Women’s Volleyball made an early-season statement with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-13) sweep over No. 4 Louisville on Tuesday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions improved to 3-0 while winning their home opener for the 13^th-consecutive season. The Cardinals fell to 2-1.

Graduate student Jess Mruzik hit .367 with 13 kills. She had six on nine swings in the final set, including the final one for match point. With her 11^th kill of the night, Mruzik reached 1,500 for her career.

Caroline Jurevicius joined Mruzik in double-digits with her 11 kills. Camryn Hannah tallied eight on .438 hitting, while Maggie Mendelson provided an offensive spark from the middle with seven kills on .462 hitting. Izzy Starck led Penn State to .358 hitting with her 32 assists.

Mruzik just missed a double-double, adding nine digs to go along with her kill total. Libero Gillian Grimes paced the team with 13 digs, while Ava Falduto and Izzy Starck added seven and six, respectively.

Penn State won the serve-receive battle with five aces compared to Louisville’s one. Hannah served for two, while Grimes, Anjelina Starck, and Izzy Starck each had one.

The Nittany Lions held Louisville to .091 hitting. Cara Cresse paced the Cardinals with eight kills on .312 hitting.

Set 1
Maggie Mendelson went off in the first set with five kills on six attacks to lead Penn State to a 25-15 win. Mruzik and Jurevicius added four kills apiece. The Nittany Lions hit .389 behind 16 assists from Izzy Starck. Penn State pulled away with a 4-0 run to go up 19-11. Quinn Menger was on the service line for the run and helped force two Louisville timeouts. Mendelson, Trammell, and Izzy Starck each had kills during that stretch. Set point was eventually scored on a kill by Jurevicius.

Set 2
Penn State turned to its defense in a 25-19 win, hitting just .171 but holding Louisville to a .027 clip. It was a set of runs as the Nittany Lions scored seven straight points to go up 16-10 before giving up six straight points to allow Louisville to tie the score at 16-all. The Nittany Lions responded with a 4-0 run that was fueled by a block from Mruzik and Mendelson. Louisville got as close as 20-18, but Penn State scored five of the final six points to get the set win. The final point was scored on a kill by Izzy Starck off a set from Falduto.

Set 3
Mruzik had six kills and Jurevicius contributed four as Penn State rolled to a 25-13 win to clinch the match. Camryn Hannah was perfect on…