No. 15 PSU women’s volleyball take down No. 17 USC in five sets in Happy Valley

Penn State women’s volleyball head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley supports her squad from the sideline. Photo: Makenna Cameron

The No. 15 Penn State Nittany Lions went head-to-head against the No. 17 University of Southern California Trojans in a battle of the East and West coasts Friday night.

It was the first Big Ten Conference match for the Lions, who are now 1-0 in conference. Both squads hit the floor refusing to back down, which made the match go into five sets.

Penn State won 3-2 (25-13, 25-22, 19-25, 15-13).

The Lions started the match off hot, ending the first set in less than 30 minutes. The players were unstoppable, especially outside hitter Emmi Sellman. Sellman earned a new season high this match with 15 digs, proving, she is a true team player. 

“I'm not surprised,” Penn State Head Coach Katie Schumacher-Cawly said when asked about Sellman’s performance. “She had a great week of practice and is working to get better. And defensively, I think she's doing some really great things, and she's a great six-rotation player for us.” 

Not only was Sellman putting in the work, but also was libero Gillian Grimes. Throughout the match, Grimes had a magnetic force to the ball, being pulled left and right to stop it from hitting the ground.

However, Grimes made an unexpected play tonight. 

As the second set was slowly creeping to an end, the roles switched, as Kennedy Martin set the ball, Grimes attacked with a kill and scored the point. The players erupted into cheers and laughter as Grimes walked away, stunned but proud.

In the first two sets, the Penn State players fought hard, proving they came to win. The athletes weren’t the only fighters tonight.

The Team Ream Foundation, a non-profit organization that was founded to support families whose loved ones are affected by cancer, was started after former Penn State football player Brandon Ream lost his battle to cancer in 2013. The foundation honored Schumacher-Cawly as ‘Fighter of the Year.’

In the third and fourth sets, the Trojans came back to battle for the victory. Although this time they did not have the wooden horse, they had Adonia Faumuina. The redshirt junior came out and owned the court like it was hers. 

Faumuina made kill after kill and made amazing blocks with the help of her teammate, Abigail Mullen. The two players acted as one, jumping for blocks against the taller Nittany Lions. Mullen and Faumuina led the charge against Penn State, climbing closer to 25 points each set.

Closing out the third and fourth sets, USC swept the court, leaving it up to the last set to see who would take the victory of the first Big Ten match of the season.

Once again, Sellman and Martin stepped onto the court for the fifth and final set with the same fierceness they had at the start of the match. The crowd screamed and cheered as both players brought the house down with their attacks. 

The scoreboard read 14-13 Penn State, and the fans in the bleachers stood, as the nail-biting match was about to come to an end. As the ball was set, Martin charged at the ball, bringing all of her force down onto the attack, and scored the match point. 

As the ball smacked against the court, the stands erupted into cheers, filling Rec Hall with the excitement of the victory. 

The Penn State Nittany Lions play UCLA today. UCLA is enters the match Sunday after defeating Ohio State 3-2 on Friday.

Thank you for reading Female Athlete News. Lily Dorf is a student-intern at Penn State University.