(MARQUETTE COMMUNICATIONS) UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania – The Marquette University women’s volleyball team fell, 25-15, 25-21, 24-26, 25-20, to top-seeded No. 2 Penn State in the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Regional Semifinals on Friday afternoon at Rec Hall.
Marquette (25-9) advanced to regional play for the third time in program history and was led by outside hitter Natalie Ring’s 14 kills, while Aubrey Hamilton added 12 in her final career NCAA match.
The Golden Eagles fought back from Penn State match point, 24-21, in the third set to force a fourth, 26-24. Senior Jenna Reitsma was inserted as a passer following a pair of PSU service aces and keyed the comeback from the service line, notching an ace of her own to put MU at set point, 25-24.
Camryn Hannah led the Nittany Lions (32-2) with 24 kills on .476 hitting, while Jess Mruzik had 20.
NOTABLE:
- MU setter Yadhira Anchante posted her 23rd double-double of the season with 35 assists and 15 digs. Her dig total pushed her past 1,000 in her NCAA Division I career.
- Anchante ends her career with 3,440 assists and 1,016 digs, the only player in MU history with over 2,000 career assists and 1,000 digs.
- MU’s win total over the last four seasons (2021-24) is 101, tying it with 2011-14 and 2016-19 for the best four-year stretch in program history.
- Ella Foti and Carsen Murray, each of whom were with the program since the spring of 2021, have witnessed 111 victories on the MU sideline (10, 26, 29, 21, 25 wins).
- In total, MU is 11-13 all-time in NCAA tournament play with eight trips to the second round and three trips to the regional semifinals in 2018, 2022 and 2024.
- MU’s other regional semifinal appearances came at Illinois (2018) and Texas (2022).
- PSU is 70-3 all-time in NCAA matches at Rec Hall and has advanced to 13 NCAA Semifinals and 10 national title matches. It is 19-0 at home in 2024.
- Penn State has won 23-straight matches at Rec Hall (the last home loss came to Nebraska on Nov. 3, 2023).
- The Golden Eagles and Nittany Lions had met just once previously, a PSU sweep on Sept. 13, 2013, at Alico Arena in Fort Meyers, Florida.
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