No. 15 Penn State Takes Down Michigan in Four Sets
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 15 Penn State defeated Michigan in four sets on Friday night at Rec Hall.
The Wolverines took the first set 25-22, but the Nittany Lions came storming back to win three straight to take the match. Penn State hit .298 in the match compared to Michigan’s .293. The Nittany Lions move to 53-5 all time against the Wolverines and 29-1 in games played at Rec Hall.
Senior Adanna Rollins was the star of the night recording a career-high of 21 kills, while hitting .400 for the match. Her teammate Angelina Starck, who had a very solid night in her own right, was asked about what she has been able to learn from Rollins’ play.
“During practices I’ll talk to her and ask her what she does or what she thinks of when she is hitting and playing defense and passing,” Starck said.
Michigan took the first set and had control of the match after hitting .302. Sophomore Jess Mruzik led the way early on with five kills while hitting .400 in the opening frame. The Nittany Lions were able to bottle her up though as the match went on and she finished hitting .220.
Penn State was trailing in the second set 15-12, but that was when Rollins really stepped up to help lead her team on a 13-7 scoring run to close out the set. All four of the sets were close with the widest margin of victory in any of the sets being three in sets one, two and three.
Coach Rose talked about the little things that helped Penn State come out on top.
“I thought we had two or three plays where we were scrambling well, kept the ball in play, and actually won those rallies,” Rose said. “That’s the difference between winning some games, obviously one of the games was deuce and the other three was 22 so that’s one swing and one missed serve and the other team wins.”
Angelina Starck had 17 digs on the evening and was a big reason the Nittany Lions came out on top. She had the final kill to give Penn State the four set win.
Rollins was asked about her thoughts on her freshman teammate. “She’s just really steady, as outsides sometimes we have to be steady and not try to get all the kills but she does both,” Rollins said. “She’s kind of like a silent assassin, you know what I mean? You don’t see her but she’s coming.”
The Nittany Lions move to 16-7 on the season and 9-4 in Big Ten play. They will be back in action tomorrow night when they host Michigan State at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall.
Trevor Grady is a fourth year majoring in supply chain management. To contact him, email tmg5685@psu.edu.
