LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It did not look good against Nebraska for the Penn State women’s volleyball team on Thursday, Dec. 19, in the national semifinal at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville.
Yet the Lions, down 2-0, pulled off an amazing reverse sweep by winning the final three sets and in the process earned the right to face Louisville in the NCAA national women’s volleyball final on Sunday, Dec. 22 at the Yum! Center.
In the final match, with everything on the line, Penn State did not need a reverse sweep. The Lions nearly took a regular sweep with a 3-1 victory over the Cardinals that brought the eighth national women’s volleyball championship back to Penn State.
Before a record breaking crowd, Penn State prevailed, 25-23, 32-34, 25-20, 25-17, in a national championship match that for the first time in NCAA history featured two female head coaches.
Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, therefore, became the first woman head coach ever to lead her team to a D1 women’s volleyball national title.
It was also the first time in 10 years that Penn State won the national championship.
The Lions were led by All-American outside hitter Jess Mruzik, who nailed 29 kills, and setter Izzy Starck, who handed out 55 assists.
The Lions edged the Cardinals 25-23 in the first set, but Louisville tied the match with an exciting, but grueling, 34-32 win in the second set.
But from there, Mruzik and Starck and the rest of the Lions began to assert themselves, and they stormed to a 25-20 win in pivotal the third set and then to a 25-17 romp to the championship.
“This certainly would not be possible without every single person around me,” Mruzik said about her performance. “I struggled a little bit to get in my groove, but I was getting a ton of good information from my teammates off the bench and a ton of good information from the other girls on the court.
“I think what really clicked was when all my teammates looked at me saying, ‘I have your back. Swing away,’ and that allowed me to play free. But I would not have been able to do it without the people around me.
“I mean the standard at Penn State is winning national championships, and that’s how it has always been. That’s what coach Rose instilled, and that’s what we try to uphold every single day. So this is like a dream come true.
“When you come to Penn State you are a Penn Stater for life and the goal is to win national championships. Like that is the standard here.”
In the deciding fourth set, Camryn Hannah, like she did in the fifth set against Nebraska, came through with the final kill that gave her team the set win and the match win.
“I think it’s special, but I wouldn’t put that whole game on just one kill,” Hannah said when she was asked about that championship-winning kill. “Because for me, I struggled in that game, and I had to look at all of my teammates and ask for help. That’s what I’ll remember most, not the sets and kills. The moments when they had my back, and that’s what I was looking for when I came here, and I got it.”
The Lions finished the season with a 35-2 final record, and as the No. 3 seed overall, they sprinted through the NCAA tournament with wins over Delaware State, North Carolina, Marquette, Creighton, Nebraska and, in the final, Louisville.
Before the tournament, Penn State setter Starck was named the AVCA National Freshman of the Year, while Mruzik was named first-team All-American, Starck was second team and Hannah and middle hitter Taylor Trammell were honorable mention.
For Mruzik, it is her third time on an All-America team, but the first time on the first team.
The Lions’ two losses came at the hands of Pitt and Wisconsin, but they got hot at the right time.
The team finished the season on a 12-match winning streak.
