What They Said After Penn State's Epic Win Over Nebraska in the NCAA Volleyball Semifinals

The Nittany Lions lost the first two sets but rallied to top the Cornhuskers and reach their first NCAA championship match since 2014.

Penn State women's volleyball head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley holds up the Big Ten title trophy after the Nittany Lions defeated Nebraska 3-1 to claim at least a share of the title. / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Before Penn State faced Nebraska in the semifinals of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament, Nittany Lions All-American Jess Mruzik issued a warning.

"Penn State has always been maybe not the best team on paper, but they are going to fight you tooth and nail if you wanted to beat them," Mruzik said. "And I think that just totally encapsulates Penn State [volleyball], like scrapping, out-working, grittiness. And some of the people who have been through this program are some of the baddest women to ever do it."

Mruzik and Penn State backed the statement Thursday, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Nebraska and return to the NCAA final for the first time since 2014. The Nittany Lions lost the first two sets 25-23 and 25-18, won the third 25-23, fought off two match points for a 28-26 win in the fourth and clinched the match with a 15-13 victory in set 5. Mruzik led the Nittany Lions with 26 kills, Caroline Jurevicius (who transferred from Nebraska to Penn State before the season) had 20 and Camyrn Hannah added 16. Setter Izzy Starck, the national freshman of the year, had 56 assists, 11 digs and an ace as the Nittany Lions overcame a statistically improbable deficit.

According to the volleyball site Evollve, Penn State had a 0.3 percent chance of winning the match when it trailed Nebraska 22-16 in the fourth set. Instead, the Nittany Lions seized the match and an opportunity to win their eighth NCAA title since 1999.

0.3% @PennStateVBALL was down 22-16 in the 4th set. Their chance of winning at that point was just 0.3%. Incredible comeback. pic.twitter.com/vXBilly3Sq

— Evollve (@evollve) December 20, 2024

Penn State will play Louisville for the NCAA championship at 3 p.m. ET Sunday at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. The Cardinals defeated Pitt in the first semifinal Thursday. ABC will televise the national-championship match. Penn State defeated Louisville 25-15, 25-19, 25-13 in a match at Rec Hall in September.

Penn State coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley and her players discussed the win in a post-match press conference in Louisville. Here's what they had to say.

.@PennStateVBALL IS GOING TO THE ‘SHIP! 🏆🦁#WeAre pic.twitter.com/WnLpdyKnfb

— Penn State Athletics (@GoPSUsports) December 20, 2024

Penn State coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley

On the match: I'm proud of this team. I think I've said that every day, but I'm proud of their fight and the way that they stick together. They find a way to win. I'm really happy and proud. I'm happy for our alum. I'm happy for Penn State. Looking forward to Sunday.

On what she said after going down 2-0: I think it was just settle in. I thought we were making one too many errors and we didn't look too confident. But we came out after that and focused on our serve. Our serve pass game got better, and we found ways to score. Defensively I thought we were picking up more balls. We were just scrapping for every point we can get.

On what winning in five sets says about the team: I think these guys train really hard. I think our strength coach, our athletic trainer do their very best to keep these guys in shape. We put them in situations in practice all the time with scoring, down, winning, all of that, and just being able to be steady in the chaos. They did a great job of that. I think the effort that they're putting in on and off the court that's separated them to win those fifth sets.

On the historical signifcance of two women coaches making the final: I think I'm just really excited to represent Penn State. I think we've heard that quite a bit, the first time a woman, this and that. I'm excited for this team. I'm excited to represent the university, to represent Coach Rose and the former players of Penn State. I think {Louisville coach] Dani [Busboom Kelly} is an exceptional coach. They have an excellent team. I'm excited we both get to compete at this level and that we've brought our teams here.

Penn State's Jess Mruzik

On playing for something larger this season: I'll talk because Katie doesn't like talking about herself.
At the beginning of the season, we picked out one of our core values was going to be bigger than us. It just really felt fitting for everything we wanted to accomplish this year. It's bigger than this team. It's about representing the legacy and representing all of the alums and people who have come in this program. We're obviously wanting to do this for her because she's been so amazing throughout this season. So I think just that gritty five-set win like helped put another brick into that piece that we're trying to build this season.

On fighting off two match points in the fourth set: I think my backcourt helps me. I'm able to swing
freely because of them. I have them look at me constantly throughout the match just telling me to let it rip and telling me where they are on coverage so I know that, when I'm going up to swing, they're right there behind me.

On the team's mentality in the fourth set: I think it's just the trust that we have between each other. I was struggling a bit in serve receive. And I looked at my teammates and told I got them, and they looked right back at me and said, No, we got you. I think it's that trust between each other and just knowing that we're never out of it. I mean, we're not playing these matches to not lose. Like, we're playing to win. We're not talking about losing ever. So we're never counting ourselves out no matter how big of a deficit we're fighting.

Penn State's Caroline Jurevicius

On the team's mentality in the fourth set: I think in those moments it's a reminder to myself and a reminder to my teammates that we dog it out at Penn State, whether it be our gym in preseason is 90 degrees or we're walking through the snow and getting back at 3 a.m., we dog it out. I looked at every single one of my teammates and gave them a little shove and said, We are doing this. We're dogging it out. Whether they got sick of me or not, I thought it worked.

On playing vs. Nebraska after transferring from there to Penn State: I think personally I'm young and this is my first real season playing. So there's a lot of mental preparation that has to go into these things. Whether it be real or all in my head, yeah, I have to do a little bit of mental work beforehand.
Maybe it's that extra bit of meditation, that extra little bit of just breathing and just being where my feet are. I guess that pays off, yeah.

Nebraska coach John Cook

On the match: That was a great match. Got to give Penn State a lot of credit. I thought we put them away in Game 4, and they found a way to win that game. Carried a lot of momentum into Game 5.
Tremendous performance by Jess. She hit some shots we had no answer for. Again, hat's off. Penn State beat us twice this year, so they deserve it.

On Penn State's Jess Mruzik: It was one of the best performances I've ever seen by an outside hitter. Finding ways to make kills, hitting off our block, hitting really sharp cross-court. She willed that team and made some great plays.

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