No. 7 Women’s Volleyball Tallies 12 Aces in Sweep at Temple – Penn State

PHILADELPHIA – No. 7 Penn State Women’s Volleyball racked up 12 aces on its way to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-15) sweep over Temple in a non-conference match Sunday at McGonigle Hall. The Nittany Lions improved to 2-0, while the Owls dropped to 3-1 with their first defeat of the season.

Sophomore Jocelyn Nathan led the big night at the service line for Penn State as she tallied a career-high four aces while playing the final two sets of the win. In all, seven different Nittany Lions had at least one ace. Gillian Grimes and Camryn Hannah served for two apiece, while Ava Falduto, Jess Mruzik, Anjelina Starck, and Izzy Starck each had one.

Redshirt freshman Caroline Jurevicius paced the attack on a day where all 16 Penn State players saw the court, hitting .353 with nine kills. Jordan Hopp made her Penn State debut at middle blocker and was solid with four kills and four blocks over the final two sets. Mruzik finished with five kills on .556 hitting, while Anjelina Starck and Alexa Markley tallied four kills apiece.

Penn State held Temple to .069 hitting with seven blocks as a team and a match-high 13 digs from Falduto. The freshman picked up the start as a defensive specialist and donned the libero jersey for the first time in the second and third sets.

Temple, which posted wins over Rider, Radford, and Fairleigh Dickinson over the weekend, was paced by Taylor Davenport and Sydney Jones with seven kills apiece.

Set 1
Mruzik hit .556 with five kills in her only set of the match to lift Penn State to a 25-16 win. Izzy Starck tallied 14 assists as the Nittany Lions hit .444. Taylor Trammell and Jurevicius each had two kills on two swings. Four players combined for the team’s five aces, including two by Hannah.

Set 2
Hopp saw the floor for the first time in a Penn State jersey and made an immediate impact with three kills on four attacks and four blocks in the team’s 25-17 win in set two. Jurevicius had four kills, while Markley chipped in with three. Nathan recorded three aces, all of which came during an 8-0 run that put the Nittany Lions up 15-6. Falduto’s six digs helped hold Temple to .061 hitting.

Set 3
Penn State clinched the match with an easy 25-15 win in set three behind three kills apiece from Jurevicius and Anjelina Starck. Falduto added five more digs as Penn State held Temple to -.033 hitting.

Career Highs
Catherine Burke – blocks (1)
Ava Falduto – aces (1), digs (13)
Caroline Jurevicius – kills (9)
Jocelyn Nathan – assists (1), aces…