No. 20 Penn State improves to 7-0 with five-set upset of No. 11 Stanford
NCAA Women
Lee Feinswog
September 9, 2022
MINNEAPOLIS — They call themselves the No Names because no one really knows who they are.Â
That’s about to change.
In a match filled with blocks and hitting errors, No. 20 Penn State beat No. 11 Stanford 25-16, 25-22, 17-25, 23-25, 15-10 Friday night.
Now at 7-0, Penn State is not only off to a great start, but everyone can start focusing not on the first-year coach who replaced a legend, but on a team that has surprised the NCAA volleyball world.
Penn State of the Big Ten hit .139 but held a 21-13.5 blocks advantage. Stanford (3-2) of the Pac-12 hit .186
Outside Kashauna Williams, a graduate-student transfer from Long Beach State, led with 16 kills, hit .361, and had four digs and two blocks for the Nittany Lions.Â
Allie Holland, a junior middle, had six kills, two aces and nine blocks, one solo.
“Oh, my God, that was so exciting,” Holland said. “It’s exciting to be back at Minnesota and these are my best friends, so being out there with them was so exciting.”
Sophomore Anjelina Starck had 12 kills, an assist, nine digs and two blocks. Taylor Trammell, a middle who transferred from Purdue, had five kills, a dig and 11 blocks, one solo.
Zoe Weatherington, the transfer from Utah who hits as hard as anyone in the college game, had seven kills but hit minus .174. However, she had eight blocks, one solo. Setter Seleisa Elisaia, a transfer from CSU Bakersfield, had two kills in five errorless tries, 35 assists, three aces, 10 digs and seven blocks. The Penn State littles were big as Maddy Bilinovic, who had eight assists, and Gillian Grimes had 11 digs each and Cassie Kuerschen had nine.
To its credit, Penn State stayed uber-aggressive throughout the match and never played it safe.
“I think the nature of Penn State volleyball is you go hard all the time,” Holland said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a Tuesday practice or a Friday night game against a huge ranked opponent. The thing with Penn State volleyball is we go hard all the time. So it’s discussed, but it’s also the nature of all of us.”
After last season, legendary Penn State coach Russ Rose retired after 43 seasons. Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who played for Rose and was his assistant, took over.Â
“That’s a great win and that’s a great team and Stanford’s gonna do some big things, too, so it’s nice to sneak out of here with that one,” Schumacher-Cawley said.
She’s spent much of the past seven months answering questions about what it’s like to replace a legend.Â
“Coach Rose did a lot for me and I appreciate him a lot, but I’ve known Katie for a while and I love her and think she’s great,” Holland said. “So we’re all excited, the players and the staff, we’re all excited, so starting off like this is pretty amazing for her.”
After beating Connecticut, Loyola, West Virginia, Iowa State, Troy and LSU, 6-0 was nice, but this was a signature victory.
“One thing Coach always said and I still talk to him about it, but winning’s hard,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “It’s hard to win. I’m happy with the six we won before this and I’m real happy with this. And moving forward the challenge will be tomorrow.”
Kendall Kipp, the senior right side for Stanford, continued to establish herself as one of the best players in the country. She led the Cardinal with 20 kills, hit .395, had two aces, 10 digs and four blocks. Outside Caitie Baird had 17 kills but hit .082 and had seven digs and two blocks. Middle Sami Francis had nine kills, hit .375, and had three digs and seven blocks, and the other middle, McKenna Vicini, had eight kills with one error in 13 attacks to go with six blocks. The other outside, freshman Elia Rubin, had seven kills but hit negative .114 to go with two assists, six digs and six blocks. Setter Kami Miner had a kill, 53 assists, seven digs and two blocks.
Obviously Penn State got off to a good start, Stanford bounced back, and then won a really disjointed fourth set. In the fifth, Penn State was on task.
“They stuck to the game plan. When we serve and pass well, we can score,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “I thought the kids off the bench did a great job and I thought our energy was great.
“Everyone was locked in and focused.”
Later Friday, No. 18 Oregon played No. 3 Minnesota in Maturi Pavillion.
All four teams are back in action Saturday when Penn State plays Oregon and Stanford plays Minnesota.
Seleisa Elisaia sets Penn State teammate Allie Holland/photo by Ethan Fine, Big Ten Network
