STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The No. 18 Penn State women's volleyball posted its second sweep of the weekend with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-23) win over No. 20 Washington in a Big Ten match Sunday afternoon at Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions upped their record to 12-4 overall and 4-2 in the conference with their third straight win. The Huskies dipped to 13-2, 4-2.
Penn State had three players reach double-digit digs while holding Washington to .113 hitting. Kennedy Martin recorded a double-double, hitting .333 with 14 kills and 13 digs. Ava Falduto led all players with 15 digs, while Haley Burgdorf contributed 10.
Alexis Stucky also played well defensively with eight digs and two blocks. Offensively, she tallied 33 assists. Gabrielle Nichols had the most efficient performance of the match, hitting .562 with 11 kills in addition to her three blocks. Whitney Lauenstein finished with nine kills, while Burgdorf chipped in with seven. Lauenstein also fueled Penn State's solid showing at the service line with three aces.
Simona Mateska led Washington's attack with nine kills. Kylie Kleckner and Kaitlyn Nguyen paced the Huskies' defensive effort with 11 digs apiece.
Penn State improved to 5-3 in the all-time series with Washington. The Nittany Lions never trailed in any set of Sunday's win.
Nichols and Martin had four kills apiece to lead Penn State to an easy 25-14 win in the first set. Falduto helped hold Washington to .139 hitting with her six digs. The Nittany Lions pulled away with a 5-0 run to go up 14-7. Lauenstein had two kills during that stretch. Penn State later went up by as much as 12 at 20-8 following a 6-0 run that was capped with a pair of kills by Burgdorf. Set point was later scored on a kill by Lauenstein.
Nichols had four kills, while Martin, Burgdorf and Lauenstein were right behind her with three kills apiece as Penn State took the second set 25-19. The Nittany Lions continued their momentum from the previous set as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead with a run that included kills by Lauenstein, Stucky and Nichols. Washington battled back to knot the score at 8-all and still trailed by just one at 11-10 before Penn State went on a 3-0 run. This time it was Kendall Northern, Lauenstein and Nichols with kills. The Nittany Lions later led by as much as eight at 24-16 after a block by Northern and Stucky. The Huskies scored three straight points before ending the set with a service error.
Martin took over in the third set with seven kills and five digs to lead Penn State to a 25-23 win. The Nittany Lions opened with a 3-0 run that included kills by Lauenstein and Martin. They added another 3-0 run that consisted of a kill by Martin and back-to-back aces by Lauenstein to go up 6-1. Penn State led the rest of the set but not without a fight from Washington. The Huskies got within one eight times. Four of those chances to tie the score were denied thanks to kills by Martin. It was a one-point score at 24-23 before Northern and Stucky closed the match with a block.
Penn State heads west for two more Big Ten matches. The Nittany Lions play at UCLA Friday and at Southern California Saturday.