Well. 15 Penn State sweeps Iowa in the regular season final

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Well. 15 Penn State women’s volleyball ended the regular season high on Saturday by beating Iowa 3-0 (25-22, 28-26, 25-19) in the Big Ten match at Rec Hall.

Lions are now waiting for their opponent and first-round seat in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. They make it to the next season with a total of 20-10 and Big Ten 13-7. They have won at least 20 matches in all 43 seasons under the head coach Russ Rose, with the exception of the shortening of COVID-19 through 2020. Hawkeyes ended the season with overall results of 6-24 and a conference of 4-16.

Penn State received huge attack bridges from three players, two of whom were among the nine Senior Night Award-winning players. Senior Kaitlyn Hord hit .484 with 16 kills and six blocks when older Jonni Parker placed 12 kills with .478 and added 11 digs to double. Second year student Allie Holland joined the Hord with a dominant effort in the middle, a total of eight kills with .800 hits and three blocks.

Hord’s 14th loss in the match gave him 1,000 careers. He reached a milestone just one night after recording his 500th career match against Minnesota.

Hord and Parker joined the group to receive the Senior Night Gabby Blossom, Keatan Broughton, Katie Clark, Jenna Hampton, Erika Pritchard, Adanna Rollins and Sophie Walls.

Blossom and Hampton had their usual place in the opening line-up, and they released numbers that match the events of the entire season, which could get them All-Big Ten awards. Blossom recorded a double with 48 passes and 10 digs, leading the team to 0.312 percent hit. Hampton led all players in 18 wells in a three-round match. Rollins also started and counted six kills and eight excavations.

Walls rose from the bench and got a pass that proved decisive in the second set. He participated under the Penn State 14-12, and the Lions scored four straight points with him on the line, rising 18-12. The run included the killing of the Rollins, the successive kills of the Horde, and the combined block of the Horde and Blossom.

As it turned out, Penn State needed that 4-0 series and a six-point lead. Iowa fought back to send the series to extra points. The Hord and Rollins made it through consecutive kills, with the Lions winning the 28-26 lead and leading the match 2-0.

Iowa was led by Courtney Buzzerio, who hit .385 with 17 kills. Amiya Jones and Hannah Clayton each made eight kills.

Penn State improved 56-0 against Iowa in a series that began in 1991. The Lions are 29-0 against Hawkeyes in Rec Hall.