UNIVERSITY PARK-– Penn State volleyball just doesn’t have an answer for Pitt.
Last season, Pitt wiped Penn State in three sets at the Peterson Events Center.
This year, Penn State won a set, but that was all it won, falling in four at Rec Hall.
The loss dropped Penn State to 4-4 overall, doubling its loss total from last year’s national championship campaign.
But Pitt coach Dan Fisher still sees Penn State making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
That will be one of our three takeaways from No. 14 Penn State’s four-set loss to No. 5 Pitt.
PENN STATE ISN’T DEAD
Things were looking rough for Penn State before star setter Izzy Starck left the program.
The team was 2-2, already matching its full loss total from a year ago by Sept. 2.
Then, Starck left the program, announcing that she was stepping away from volleyball to focus on mental health.
On the same night she made this announcement, Penn State lost in straight sets at Rec Hall to No. 6 Kentucky.
Pitt was Penn State’s first test since then, and again, there was disappointment in the result.
But Pitt coach Dan Fisher expects Penn State to be right there in the mix come December.
“Just knowing how talented the players are,” Fisher said afterward. “I wouldn’t look too much at 4-4.”
As Fisher pointed out, Penn State has had quite a difficult schedule, with six of its first eight games being against ranked opponents.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“We’re all playing these days in showcases,” Fisher said, “and we’re right away before we’ve really had time to kind of mesh as a team playing the other best teams in the country. So I certainly expect them to settle into what their lineup’s going to be and getting more comfortable playing.”
MAGGIE MAE
It’s unconfirmed whether Penn State middle blocker Maggie Mendelson has heard of Rod Stewart, but it is confirmed that she was a bright spot for PSU Wednesday night.
No. 44 ended the evening with six kills and eight blocks, impressing Schumacher-Cawley.
“Maggie was super aggressive,” she said. “I thought she found a way to score points… Maggie works hard. She saw the game well tonight.”
THE RIVALRY
Literally none of Pitt’s players are from Pennsylvania, so it’s possible they might not understand the significance of the Pitt-Penn State.
Fisher certainly does.
“I don’t think it’s like a hostile rivalry,” he said. “I don’t know what players said it wasn’t a rivalry. It’s Pitt-Penn State.
Schumacher-Cawley has been part of the rivalry as both a player and coach at Penn State, so yeah, she understands it well.
“Do I like the rivalry?” she said jokingly.
Then, she got serious.
“It’s amazing to have two schools in Western Pennsylvania that are ranked and have been to final fours and have won and things like that,” she said. “So I think it’s great to compete.”
Penn State competes again against Princeton Friday night at Rec Hall. First tip is scheduled for 7:00.
