Just clinched semi final spot in a great match!
Great job WVB!
- Thread starter The Spin Meister
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I caught the end of the 4th set and the 5th.
I know less than nothing about high level volleyball but it looks damn hard to play.
I know less than nothing about high level volleyball but it looks damn hard to play.
Was a great match. Lots of back n forth momentum changes. Long volleys. Crazy home crowd.
WVB is BY FAR the best women's sport. The speed on the game is great. Wish it got more coverage. Nebraska up next then Louisville/Pitt. Should be great.
This is just a great team to root for. The tradition, the coach, the players. They’ve had an outstanding season against the very best competition. They will have to beat the other two best teams in the nation to keep it going.
Tonight was a sensational match. Jess Mruzik is a warrior. And I don’t know about you but every time I hear the announcers say Jurevicious it gives me a good feeling.
Except for Eagles fans who still see Joe J running all around The Vet. I root for PSU players over NFL teams...so I was OK with his big playoff performance
It looked to me like several PSU players struggled last night. Mendleson was benched. Grimes is usually great but struggled with first contact. Hannah had a tough night but in her defense a lot of sets were too far off the net. Fortunately Murzik & Jurevicius picked up the slack. Trammel also played well and the others hung in and did just enough.
Ava Martin was great for Creighton.
Ava Martin was great for Creighton.
Creighton had to be the 5th seed in the whole tournament, with us at 4 seed. Creighton had lost 2 matches all year, both in 5 sets to Louisville and Nebraska.....both already in the final 4. So Creighton had gone toe to toe with the best programs in the country.
Hannah had a tough match....number 5 the transfer from Iowa State was great...she had barely played until last night. Murzik and Jurevicius were really good and the help of the home crowd seem to spur on PSU in set 5. Women's VB is a fun sport to watch......the men do not have the length of rallies that the women have. For the men it is receive serve, pass to the setter......set one of the outside hitters....slam, point over.
Hannah had a tough match....number 5 the transfer from Iowa State was great...she had barely played until last night. Murzik and Jurevicius were really good and the help of the home crowd seem to spur on PSU in set 5. Women's VB is a fun sport to watch......the men do not have the length of rallies that the women have. For the men it is receive serve, pass to the setter......set one of the outside hitters....slam, point over.
I watched it as well. Great match. PSU had a better defense, and I think that it was the difference. Evenly matched with so long rallies. Very exciting. Got to win two more. Go PSU!
Pitt probably is the best team, but they get the unlucky draw of facing the home team in the Final Four.
I believe we were 3 and they were 6 as we're not on Pitt's side of the bracket but, yes, Creighton was a great team that fought hard in their big matches this year--just couldn't close them out.
Jordan Hopp (#5) came up big--glad to see her have a great match after what I'm sure has been a disappointing season for her personally with the lack of playing time. Murzik was outstanding
The future is bright too with Starck and Jurevicius having 3 more years of eligibility
it's kind of like tennis--both the men's and women's games are great but it's almost like they're different sports. I prefer the women's game because of the rallies.
In middle sets Creighton put up a wall at the net. They blocked shots like crazy. But PSU made great adjustments and came back
In set three, tied at one set apiece, we were down by seven points (18-11?) and came back to win that critical set.
And I didn’t know the coach was diagnosed with breast cancer in September, has been undergoing chemotherapy, and will have surgery in Jan.
Amazing she has the stamina to coach as chemotherapy can be brutal. She seems to lost all her hair as she wears a scarf over head. One tough and courageous woman!
Nice shot of Joe in attendance as well.
Joe was more nervous than anyone in that arena--biting his nails
Joe J was at the match last night to cheer for Caroline. ESPN showed him chewing on his nails, it was adorable. Caroline transferred from Nebraska, I think has 3 more years of eligibility -- she is a big time OH with AA potential and only going to get better. Her sister Ava who is also a great player is part of PSU's incoming 2025 class.
Volleyball junkies are having a great time watching freshman setter Izzy Starck. She was the national No. 1 prospect and you can see why. She is just wildly athletic but with incredible maturity and volleyball IQ. Best pure setter I've seen at PSU. She and the Nebraska setter, Bergen Reilly, will probably be AA.
Last night Jess Mruzik had a gorgeous back-row kill but equally gorgeous was seeing Starck dart to the right of the net to get under the pass and sends the ball to within inches of where Mruzik needed it with a perfect trajectory. That set is incredibly rare, incredibly hard to pull off but for Starck it's just routine. Her dumps at the net are also really effective because she reads defenses so well and sees not only the openings but what openings is the defense NOT going to be able to close.
Last night Jess Mruzik had a gorgeous back-row kill but equally gorgeous was seeing Starck dart to the right of the net to get under the pass and sends the ball to within inches of where Mruzik needed it with a perfect trajectory. That set is incredibly rare, incredibly hard to pull off but for Starck it's just routine. Her dumps at the net are also really effective because she reads defenses so well and sees not only the openings but what openings is the defense NOT going to be able to close.
Not a VB junkie so I pay more attention to the hitters. I do remember the back row kill the Mruzik hit and I was shocked that she could get that clean of hit from the back row.....the set must have been perfect. Happy that we made the final four.....with truly the best four teams in the country playing....... Pitt is probably the best team, we tied Nebraska for the Big 10 Championship and the games are in Louisville. So the path for a championship is going to be very challenging. Not counting out the Lions, but this is a killed Final 4.
Having Izzy is a massive asset. It's already paying dividends as that's probably a huge reason why they were able to get a commit from incoming transfer Emmi Sellman from OSU today. Hitters will want to play with Izzy as she will boost everyone around her. Hancock is still my favorite to watch but she wasn't a "pure setter" as you called it, but was a warrior and a winner. Glass was pretty damn good though too and is deserving of consideration.
The only thing better would have been if she shouted out, “Omaha!” to set up plays against Creighton.
Yes. Had her best game of the season against PSU. Made the all Big 10 freshmen team. IIRC she was the #4 overall and #2 outside hitter recruit in the country coming out of high school. She's a massive get for PSU.
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PSU loses Mruzik and Camryn Hannah so they need hitters. Jurevicius has huge potential. In the 2025 class they have the nation's No. 1 rated recruit, 6-4 OH Marin Collins. Sellman, the Ohio State transfer, is also 6-4. Size at the hitter position is a huge advantage. Megan Hodge (Now Hodge-Easy and on the PSU coaching staff) was 6-3 and a great leaper -- she could often just hit over an opposing team's block.
You never know how it will turn out -- Mruzik is an incredible player who does so many things so well. But they definitely have the pieces to be a national force again.
ESPN had a special a couple weeks ago on the great women's team that went undefeated for like 100 matches. Many of those gals are coaching college teams all over the country!
That’s great news. I watched a couple of their matches this season, including when they almost beat PSU, and the announcers were effusive with their praise of her.
Those teams were just incredible, especially the 2008 team. They lost 2 SETS the entire year. Absolute domination.
Glass was awesome. All American, made national teams and plays internationally. Starck has huge potential and played very well this year. She could be PSU's best setter ever, but is not there yet.
Actually that was aired on the Big 10 Network. They replay it now and then so those that haven't seen it can probably still catch it sometime. It's well worth the watch to hear from so many of the former players. It's called "The B1G Story: The Streak."
Micha Hancock was playing last summer for a VB club in Italy near Bologna and did this video on the volleyball life. Super thoughtful person.
Glass won 3 national championships! Hancock 2. Glass set national team to world championship; Hancock set for the Olympic gold medal team in 2000. Starck is good enough to follow in those footsteps. Heck, they have a shot this year if they can beat Nebraska a second time, but if they can't they've still had a really special season -- they have brought PSU volleyball back into the national limelight.
Hancock and Glass were both insanely good--love to see Starck playing close to that level as a freshman--she's special
Izzy Starck just won AVCA national freshman of the year, first Penn Stater since Ali Frantti in 2014. Other PSU winners were Nicole Fawcett, Megan Hodge, Deja McClendon. Pretty good company.
What a year, what a tournament. Nobody would have predicted PSU and Louisville in the finals this year.
A cool stat--Penn State is now in their 11th championship match out of 44. Making the tile game 1/4th of the time is ridiculous.
Tied with Nebraska and only behind Stanford. We're also 3-1 in championship matches against Stanford.
Tied with Nebraska and only behind Stanford. We're also 3-1 in championship matches against Stanford.
