Penn State Women’s Volleyball Bounces Back Against Northwestern

Story posted October 10, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Charlie Knezevic

Penn State didn’t miss a beat in its bounce-back effort against Northwestern on Saturday night. After a tough loss against Nebraska on Friday, the Nittany Lions came back and put away the Wildcats in four sets in front of the Rec Hall crowd.

Penn State was able to find a rhythm in the middle of the first set and didn’t look back despite strong play from Northwestern’s star hitter Temi Thomas-Ailara. After finishing the first set 25-21, the Nittany Lions started out the second set up 5-0 and ultimately finished the set with a 25-18 advantage.

The third set started out rocky for the Nittany Lions as they fell behind 10-4 and they weren’t able to find their dominance that was present in the first two sets until it was a little too late.

The Rec Hall crowd was drawn to their feet after three straight blocks in one play brought the Nittany Lions back to 20-18. However, Northwestern had two big-time kills and won the third set 25-23.

Penn State regained its composure and jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth set and they cruised to a 25-19 fourth set win to close out the match.

Jonni Parker helped lead the way for the blue and white but it was a team effort at the net that kept Thomas-Ailara from controlling the game and giving the Wildcats a chance to win the game.

Nittany Lions head coach Russ Rose didn’t make himself available for media after the game but he was still upset about the way his team played the night before.

The Nittany Lions improve to 12-4 on the season and will welcome Rutgers to Rec Hall next Friday while Northwestern falls to 7-10 and will head to Minnesota on Wednesday.


Charlie Knezevic is a third-year broadcast journalism major, to contact him email charlieknez@gmail.com.