Penn State women’s volleyball headed to national championship after comeback semifinal win
There’s something about Kentucky that works for Penn State.
After trailing by two sets and surviving in the third set against Nebraska in the NCAA semifinals, the Nittany Lions staved off match point — twice — to force a decisive fifth set. By then the momentum was firmly in their corner; Penn State never trailed in the final frame and completed a remarkable 3-2 comeback (23-25, 18-25, 25-23, 28-26, 15-13) in front of a record crowd at the KFC Yum! Center.
It was just the second time this season that Penn State (34-2) managed to rally from a 2-0 match deficit. The other? Back on Sept. 6, when the Nittany Lions improved to 4-0 early in this campaign with a come-from-behind win against Kentucky at Rupp Arena, located about 80 miles east of Louisville.
They’ll look to extend their bluegrass-state win streak Sunday afternoon against Louisville, a surprise finalist after eliminating No. 1 overall seed Pittsburgh in the evening’s first semifinal, 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 29-27, 25-17).
“I think that we have to act like we’ve been here before, and I think, yeah, being in Kentucky before and winning some gritty matches, that definitely helps,” said Caroline Jurevicius, who ended with 20 kills and four blocks against her former Nebraska teammates.
It was the second time Jurevicius, who didn’t play for the Cornhuskers last season as a true freshman, came up big against them. She had 18 kills and two blocks in a win over Nebraska at home on Nov. 29.
Jess Mruzik finished with a match-high 26 points, 15 of them accumulated over the final two sets.
“We’re not playing these matches to not lose,” Mruzik said. “We’re playing to win. We’re not talking about losing ever. So we’re never counting ourselves out no matter how big of a deficit we’re fighting.”
The fifth-year senior was particularly relentless in the fourth set, where she racked up nine kills, the last two counting into Penn State’s final three points in a 28-26 roller coaster ride. It held multi-point leads multiple times early in the set but Nebraska climbed back to even things at 15.
The Cornhuskers appeared to have done enough to stymie their Big Ten rival. They used a 10-1 run to take a 22-16 lead before Penn State scored four straight. Nebraska took the next two points to go up 24-22, but consecutive kills by Mruzik and Jurevicious resuscitated the Nittany Lions.
Very briefly, it seemed that Nebraska had won the game on Mruzik’s kill. The Cornhuskers started to celebrate, excitedly enough to thrust ESPN camera operators onto the court. But the point was ruled a kill for Mruzik, and survived a Nebraska challenge. The ball went off the fingertips of a Cornhusker.
“We touched it,” Nebraska coach John Cook said. “Jess did that a lot. It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by an outside hitter. Finding ways to make kills, hitting off our block, hitting really sharp cross-court. She willed that team and made some great plays, and that was one of them there.”
An announced crowd of 21,726 fans — the most for any NCAA volleyball semifinal round — saw Penn State grit out their second straight five-set postseason win (they overcame Creighton, 3-2, in the region final). Between Nebraska fans and Louisville holdovers, red was decidedly in style on Thursday night.
Given that its title-game opponent often plays home games at the Yum! Center, Penn State’s all but certain to be the crowd villain on Sunday. Not that that’ll faze the Nittany Lions at this point. Gillian Grimes, who led all participants with 25 digs, said:
“I just think that, if we go into every game with the same mindset that we did the last three sets, we can really put the cherry on the top of the season.”
Extra history on the line
Penn State’s pursuit of its eighth national title — and first since 2014 — isn’t the only bit of history at stake on Sunday.
Both teams in the championship game are coached by women — Katie Schumacher-Cawley for Penn State and Dani Busboom Kelly for Louisville. A female head coach has never won an NCAA Division I volleyball championship.
“I’m just really excited to represent Penn State,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “I think we’ve heard that quite a bit, the first time a woman, this and that. I’m excited for this team. I’m excited to represent the university, to represent Coach (Russ) Rose and the former players of Penn State. I think Dani is an exceptional coach. They have an excellent team. I’m excited we both get to compete at this level and that we’ve brought our teams here.”
Rose, whom Schumacher-Cawley succeeded following his retirement from Penn State in 2021, guided the program to all of its previous national titles. The Nittany Lions are 7-3 all-time in NCAA finals.
A title for Louisville would be its first. The Cardinals lost to Texas in the 2022 championship game, its only previous appearance.
This story was originally published December 20, 2024 at 8:09 AM.