Penn State Volleyball wins 8th National Championship

A record 21,860 fans were on hand to witness the Penn State volleyball team win its 8th National Championship in school history. The Nittany Lions defeated the Louisville Cardinals in four sets (25-23, 32-34, 25-20, 25-17). It is the first national championship since 2014 and Penn State now trails only Stanford (9) for most titles all time. How did Penn State return to the top of the volleyball world?

Penn State volleyball takes set 1

The set started out with both teams exchanging points and nobody having the clear edge. Louisville grabbed the early lead thanks to a few Penn State service errors, but the Nittany Lions settled in and went on the first run of the set. Penn State pushed its lead to the largest of the set and took a 14-10 lead and seemed to be rolling. Louisville decided not to use the timeout and were able to battle back and tie the set at 15-15.

A quick 4-1 run by Penn State thanks to a strong block pushed the Nittany Lead to 19-16 and forced Louisville to take the first timeout by either team in the first set. The Cardinals came out firing out of the timeout with a 3-0 run that took advantage of some poor passes by Penn State and forced Katie Schumacher-Cawley to call her first timeout.

Penn State came out strong out of the timeout and went on a quick 4-1 run thanks to aces by Gillian Grimes and Ava Falduto to push the lead to 23-20. Louisville scored three straight points to tie it up, but after a net violation by the Cardinals they were unable to handle the serve by Jess Mruzik and the Nittany Lions took the first set 25-23.

Louisville takes marathon 2nd set

Penn State continued momentum into set 2 and after exchanging a few points with Louisville pulled ahead for a 6-3 lead. After Louisville was able to trim the lead to one point at 8-7, the Nittany Lions turned to Camryn Hannah who got going from the service line pushing the lead to 11-7 and forcing the Cardinals to take their first timeout.

Penn State continued to keep the pressure up and once again forced Louisville into multiple hitting errors and playing into the block to extend their lead to 16-10, once again forcing the Cardinals to take a timeout. The two teams each traded three points before Louisville got the KFC YUM! Center on it’s feet with a 3-0 run to close the gap to 19-16 and force Katie Schumacher-Cawley to call her first timeout of the set.

Louisville came out of the timeout firing with a service ace and block on Camryn Hannah to close the gap to one. Penn State seemed to be closing out the set as they went on a 5-1 run to take a 24-19 lead, but the Cardinals were able to fight off 5 set points to tie it and seemed to be feeding off the home crowd. Penn State kept trading points with Louisville but couldn’t seem to put away the Cardinals with 9 set points. Louisville was looking to serve when Penn State was called out of rotation but after a discussion with the officials they decided to replay the point.

Payton Peterson picked up the service ace and gave Louisville its first set point at 29-28. After multiple exchanges it was ultimately Louisville who pulled off the marathon 34-32 victory and seemed to put the home crowd into a frenzy. Towards the end of the set Penn State was out of substitutions and were forced to play its smaller players at the net. The 66 points scored were the most in a championship set in NCAA history.

Penn State responds in set 3

It was a quick start by Penn State who opened up a 7-3 lead in set 3 and forced Louisville to take their first timeout. The two sides continued to exchange points with the Penn State lead ranging from 2 to 4 points. The Nittany Lions leaned heavy on Jess Mruzik in the 3rd set as she picked up her 5th kill of the set to give Penn State a 3-0 run and 16-11 lead, forcing Louisville to use their 2nd timeout.

Penn State continued to put pressure on Louisville and once again found themselves up 19-13 similar to the second set. The two teams continued to exchange blows but this time the Nittany Lions were able to close it out the Cardinals 25-20 only needing two set points. Jess Mruzik finished the set with the kill and lead both teams with 20 kills heading into the 4th. Penn State hit .300 in set 3 while Louisville hit just .143, which was its worst so far.

Lions capture the crown in set 4

Penn State seemed to carry over the momentum over from the third set and jumped out to a dominant 6-1 lead and forced Louisville to take its first timeout. The Nittany Lions were forcing the Cardinals to scramble on defense, not allowing them to set up and clean chances for kills. Out of the timeout Penn State extended their lead to 10-2 as Jess Mruzik continued to dominant. Louisville scored three straight points to force a timeout by Katie Schumacher-Cawley to try and get momentum back on their side up 10-5.

It was a strong response for Penn State who took a 12-5 lead and forced Louisville to burn its 2nd and final timeout to stop the bleeding. Jess Mruzik seemed to be putting the team on her back and never letting the Cardinals get back into it. Penn State closed out with a dominant 25-17 4th set to win the National Championship.

Katie Schumacher-Cawley makes history

Only three women have ever made the NCAA Finals as head coach. Now Penn State’s Katie Schumacher-Cawley becomes the first woman in history to win the national title. It was a storybook ending to a season that saw the Penn State volleyball head coach lead the team to Big Ten Championship for the first time since 2017, and now a National Championship for the first time since 2014. It took Schumacher Cawley just three seasons to bring Penn State back to national prominence. The volleyball world once again runs through Happy Valley.

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