Podraza Reaches 5,000 Career Assists in Women’s Volleyball’s Win Over Michigan State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 14 Penn State Women’s Volleyball avenged an earlier loss to Michigan State with a 3-1 (24-26, 25-16, 25-11, 25-18) win in Big Ten action Friday night at Rec Hall.
 
The Nittany Lions improved to 18-8 overall and 12-5 in the conference behind a tremendous effort from Jess Mruzik. The senior hit .484 with 19 kills and six digs, giving her double-digit kills for the 10^th-straight match. The Spartans fell to 16-12 overall and 8-9 in the Big Ten.
 
Camryn Hannah and Zoe Weatherington joined Mruzik to give Penn State a trio of players with double-digit kills. Hannah had 11 on .321 hitting and added two aces. Weatherington finished with 10 kills and four blocks. Taylor Trammell also had a strong night offensively with eight kills on .500 hitting in addition to her defensive effort that included five blocks.
 
Mac Podraza led the team to .362 hitting with 44 assists and reached a huge individual milestone in the process. Her 42^nd assist of the night, which came in the fourth set, was the 5,000^th of her career. She moved closer to another milestone with her seven digs. She needs just 25 more to reach 1,000 for her career.
 
Maddy Bilinovic led Penn State in digs with 12. Gillian Grimes was right behind her with 11 and had three of the team’s nine aces.
 
Freshman Taylah Holdem paced Michigan State with 10 kills and seven digs.
 
Set 1
The first set was as close as could be before Michigan State pulled out the 26-24 win. The set featured 15 ties and seven lead changes. The largest lead by either team came with Penn State up 10-7…