No. 11 Penn State women’s volleyball ends regular season on high note over No. 19 Purdue

Story posted November 27, 2022 in

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State finished off its regular season with a five-set victory over Purdue on Senior Night.

The Boilermakers opened things off by winning a tight first set, as the Nittany Lions had it tied at 21 before Purdue pulled away for the victory.

That theme remained true in set two for what was the only set to go past the 25 point mark.

Penn State finished the set on a three-point scoring run which was capped off with an Alexa Markley kill to give the Nittany Lions their first set victory.

The blue and white kept that momentum up in a decisive third set which included two separate 6-0 scoring runs.

Penn State came away with a 25-17 victory in the third set but couldn’t close things out in the fourth set.

The Boilermakers pulled away midway through the set to win 25-15 and force a fifth and final set.

In that fifth set, Penn State controlled things from start to finish with Zoe Weatherington recording the final two kills to help the Nittany Lions win the set 15-8 and win the match in its entirety.

That win elevated the Nittany Lions record to 24-7 to finish the regular season in what was also their second win over Purdue this month.

For coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, the win is extra sweet on Senior Day.

“It’s always nice to be home and get a ‘W’,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “Get the seniors out of here the right way.”

The seniors honored before the match were outside hitters Kashauna Williams and Anastasiya Kudryashova, setter Seleisa Elisaia and middle blocker Katie Clark.

Junior Maddy Bilinovic had nothing but praise for the four honorees.

“All four of those seniors bring so much to this program and this team,” Bilinovic said. “Obviously they’re awesome volleyball players but they’re even better people so it was really special to celebrate them tonight.”

The Nittany Lions will now await their seeding in the upcoming NCAA Tournament as they picked up a much needed resume booster with their fifth win over a ranked opponent this season.

Logan Bourandas is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.