Penn State women’s volleyball looking to continue hot start in Tiger Challenge
The Katie Schumacher-Cawley era is off to a quick start.
After winning nine of eleven sets in the Penn State invitational, the No. 21 Nittany Lions have a 3-0 record under the first-year head coach.
This weekend they will travel down to Baton Rouge for three matches in the Tiger Challenge.
Iowa State (Friday 1 PM EST)
The Cyclones are a young team, with four freshmen who made their collegiate debuts during the Rumble in the Rockies.
Maya Duckworth and Kelsey Perry, two freshmen, were heavily relied upon when the Cyclones lost to No. 18 Creighton, rebounded for a victory over Wyoming, and ultimately lost their last match of the weekend to Wichita State.
Duckworth contributed 12 of her 28 kills against Creighton, while Perry was a force on defense, averaging 1.5 blocks per set throughout the tournament.
Penn State has the experience to overcome the talented freshman, who are joined by senior outside hitters Eleanor Holthaus and Mariah Mitchell, who combined for 72 kills over the weekend.
The Nittany Lions' experience was clear during the Penn State invitational, with graduate student Seleisa Elisaia, senior transfer Zoe Weatherington and junior Maddy Bilinovic named to the All-Tournament team.
While the young Cyclones could provide a spark as they did later in the weekend, the Nittany Lions should have no problems against the young team, similar to how they performed against two young teams last weekend in Loyola and West Virginia.
Troy (Friday 6 PM EST)
The Trojans dropped their first match of the Classic City Clash against Georgia before winning their next two matches of the weekend against Santa Clara and Chattanooga.
Against the Bulldogs, Troy could not get much going putting up less than 20 points in all three sets. Troy failed to register an advantage in any major statistical category, which is something that could be seen again from them on Friday evening.
The Nittany Lions had their way against UConn, Loyola and West Virginia as they held the advantage in points, kills, aces, blocks, assists and digs, among other categories in every match.
Troy rebounded on the second day of the clash as Tori Hester had 49 kills on day two, with a career-high 26 coming against Santa Clara. Freshman Amiah Butler did her best to keep pace with the sophomore as she recorded 19 kills in that match.
Those two were helped out in large part due to Amara Anderson, who totaled 109 assists in the Trojans’ two victories.
The Trojans will need all three of them to come out strong and help get others involved if they want to throw the Penn State defense off its guard.
LSU (Saturday 4 PM EST)
LSU was held under 20 points in three sets last weekend, not including the fifth set against Rice, a weekend that saw the Tigers win just one of three matches on their home court.
Despite strong offensive performances from Sanaa Dotson, who led the Tiger attack with 52 kills, and Hannah Jacobs, who added 36 kills, the Tigers' offense failed to finish off points against Houston and Rice after defeating Samford in three sets to start their season.
The task of finishing points will get no easier when the Tigers match up against the Nittany Lions. Maddy Bilinovic led the defensive effort with 46 digs over three matches, while Allie Holland, Taylor Trammel and Selesia Elisaia created a wall up front, all recording double-digit block totals.
Those efforts helped the Nittany Lions hold opponents to under 20 points in eight of eleven sets, including four sets of 15 points or less.
LSU put up its best effort in a five-set match against Rice, who received votes in the rankings and are the closest Tiger opponent to the Nittany Lions, but the Nittany Lions should be ready to pounce on the Tigers low scoring team.
Justin Ciavolella is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu.
