Penn State Nittany Lions’ season ends with loss to Stanford in NCAA women’s volleyball tourney

The Penn State women’s volleyball season has come to an end.

The No. 11 Nittany Lions fell in straight sets to No. 3 Stanford on Saturday night, losing 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-17) in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament at the Maples Pavilion in Stanford, California. Penn State finishes the season at 27-6.

It was the 39th straight year that the Nittany Lions earned a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Early on Saturday night, it appeared as if Russ Rose’s squad might pull off the upset. Penn State jumped out to a 20-14 lead in the first set, before the Cardinal climbed back — eventually going on a 6-0 run to end the opening set. The Nittany Lions never recovered.

Senior Kendall White finished with 11 digs and ended her career as the all-time digs leader with 1,994. Tori Gorrel and Serena Gray also earned spots on the regional all-tournament team.

Penn State opened the NCAA tournament with a 3-0 win over Princeton and a 3-1 victory over Towson. On Friday, it edged out Cincinnati 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-12, 25-11) to advance to the quarterfinals against Stanford.

Stanford will take on No. 7 Minnesota at 9:30 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals. Baylor-Wisconsin will play 7 p.m. Thursday, with the winners of both matches advancing to the NCAA championship Saturday.

This story was originally published December 15, 2019 at 11:03 AM.