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What They Said After Penn State's NCAA Women's Volleyball Title

The Nittany Lions won their eighth NCAA women's volleyball title, making history for coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley.

Mark Wogenrich

Penn State celebrated with the trophy after they defeated Louisville to win the NCAA Women's Volleyball championship at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville.
Penn State celebrated with the trophy after they defeated Louisville to win the NCAA Women's Volleyball championship at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. / Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Penn State women's volleyball team completed a remarkable postseason run Sunday, defeating Louisville 3-1 to win the NCAA championship before a record crowd at the KFC Yum! Center. The Nittany Lions won 25-23, 32-34, 25-20, 25-17 to claim their eighth national championship and first since 2014.

Penn State also made history for third-year head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who became the first female coach to lead a team to the NCAA title. The Nittany Lions won two remarkable matches in Louisville, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Nebraska in the semifinals before topping Louisville in front of a hometown crowd.

Outside hitter Jess Mruzik was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, making 29 kills in the championship match. Setter Izzy Starck, the national freshman of the year, recorded 55 assists, and Penn State's defense limited Louisville to a hitting percentage of .196

Schumacher-Cawley and Penn State's players discussed the historic match. Here's what they said.

Penn State coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley

On the win: I know I've talked about them all season, but they were the reason why this team was so successful. They did what it took on and off the court to help this team and to show the younger ones how to work and to be a great teammate. I couldn't be more proud of these guys and proud to be a Penn Stater and just happy for the university.

On winning the title while undergoing treatment for cancer: I'm so fortunate to be surrounded by so many great people, from this team to the staff I have. I'm just really lucky to have great people around me that go above and beyond. I think I said in the other press conference that I'm inspired by the young kids that are sick. I told you I'm doing treatment at UPenn, and every time I walk in the hospital, I walk right past the Children's Hospital [in Philadelphia]. Sure, if I can be an inspiration to someone, then I take that, but I feel good, and I'm lucky to have the people around me. I think that's why we're successful.

On Jess Mruzik: I think Jess found ways to score and never looks tired although I know she is. But I think she would take 200 swings if we needed to win. I thought Izzy put her in good position, and we were passing well. She finds ways to score. I'm glad we set her as much as we did. We needed to. 73 swings, that's a lot. I just saw those stats.

On recruiting this team: These guys have been here for a little bit longer and are committed to what we were trying to do, and they set the tone. After we lost last year, every single one of them was like, we want to win and we want this. So I put it back on them to make changes and to make better choices on and off the court and to help lead the younger ones. It's been quite the journey for sure. I think for all of us in the last three years these guys have been through a lot. I'm proud that they're walking away the way they are with what they did. Not even just volleyball. I think as people and in school, they're all excellent, excellent students. They're all going on to either play pro. Quinn [Menger] is going to law school, and she's going to be my next attorney. They're amazing, and like I said, I think everyone that we've brought into the program has helped and has made an impact to push this team to where they needed to be

Jess Mruzik

On how she played in the championship match: It certainly wouldn't be possible without every single person around me. I struggled a little bit just to find my groove at the beginning, but I was getting a ton of good information off the bench from my teammates and a ton of good information from the other girls on the court. I think what really clicked was when all my teammates started looking at me saying, like, I have your back, swing away, let it rip. That allowed me to play free. But I definitely wouldn't be able to do it without every single person around me.

On playing for Penn State: The standard at Penn State is winning national championships. That's how it's always been. That's what Coach [Russ] Rose instilled, and that's what we try to uphold every single day. Yeah, this is like a dream come true, but when you come to Penn State, you're a Penn Stater for life, and the ultimate goal is winning a national championship. That is the standard here.

On what she learned from coach Schumacher-Cawley: She teaches us so much every single day, but I think the biggest thing I'm taking away from this season is like you can do anything. You can do anything you set your mind to. If you believe it, like it will happen. I think with her doing everything she's doing, that helped us as a group also believe that we're capable of this because everyone says they believe they can do this, but there aren't many people that truly, deeply know they can do this.
She's just been an inspiration to us, and she's helped us believe that we can accomplish what we just accomplished.

Taylor Trammell

On what she learned from Schumacher-Cawley: I just want to say I think Katie pushes us in the best way, and she knows how to push each person individually in the way they need to be to be successful here. I know that coming here, that was the main thing that I looked at. From where I was last year to now, Katie has pushed me to be a better person, a better player, and just a well-rounded human being. I think that's a characteristic that I'll take into life in how to treat others, and that's just something that I'm so grateful for my time spent here that she taught me.

On winning the title after their comeback vs. Nebraska: For one, we want to prove people wrong. Everybody was against us in that match. The whole entire crowd was red basically. We're sitting here,
especially us seniors, thinking we're not losing to them, period. I think coming back, everyone knew we had to kick it in, we had to play our game. I think Nebraska obviously is a great player, but let's not forget we have seen them in the Big Ten season and we beat them. So going into that game, we knew we had all the confidence, and we just had to show that on the court. I was really proud going into that third set and like our fourth set fight, again, that's just the people we are. We have the grit. We have the power to do what we want to do when we put our mind to it. Yeah, I'm super proud of this group.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is Editor and Publisher of AllPennState, the site for Penn State news on SI's FanNation Network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs and three Rose Bowls.

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