Penn State vs Yale 11-30-2023 WVB Round 1

 Dear Readers~

    The regular season is now over so it's time to see who can make it all the way to the finals and be named the national champions. For Round 1 the game being covered will be Penn State taking on Yale in Lawrence, Kansas at the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena. At the end of the regular season, Penn State was 21-8 along with a 6-game win streak, with 4 of those being a 3-0 sweep, while Yale was 21-3 with a 17-game win streak and their last loss being on September 15th after they got swept by Northwestern. With 64 teams competing in Round 1 let's get started to see who can make it to Round 2.

    Starting off with Kills for the game leaders we have Penn State's Jess Mruzik, with 19, while Yale was led by Audrey Leak, with 15. The leader in Aces goes to Purdue's Mac Podraza, with 3, while Yale's Cara Shultz and Mila Yarich, as well as Penn State's Allie Holland, all had 2 aces each. The leader in Blocks goes to Penn State's Zoe Weatherington and Allie Holland, with 5, followed by Taylor Trammell, with 4. Yale's Audrey Leak, Mila Yarich, and Laurence Abraham all had 1 ace each. Assists were very close. The leader was Penn State's Mac Podraza, with 42, followed shortly by Yale's Carly Diehl, with 41. The leader in Digs goes to Penn State's Gillian Grimes, with 15, while Yale was led by Maile Somera, with 11, then Penn State's Mac Podraza with 10, Yale's Mila Yarich with 9, Penn State's Maddy Bilinovic, with 8, and Yale's Carly Diehl, with 7.

    As for how each set ended, the first set ended at 25-17 in favor of Penn State. The second set ended much closer at 25-23 but this time in favor of Yale. The third set was just as close, ending at 25-22 in favor of Penn State and leading to a fourth set. The fourth set ended with the biggest gap by ending at 25-16 and in favor of Penn State as well as ending the game 3 sets for Penn State and only one for Yale. The game ended with Penn State leading in points, 69-58, kills 52-49, aces, 8-7, blocks, 9-2, assists, 50-47, and digs, 48-42.

Here is the match day post Penn State put on their Instagram for round 1. Don't forget to give them a follow to see how the rest of their journey to the national championships goes: @pennstatevball

Here is the game day post Yale put on their Instagram in honor of the big game. Don't forget to give them a follow to see how they end their season: @yalevolleyball

    With this being round 1 of the national championships, if a team loses, their season is over so this means that Yale is done with their 2023 season, but Penn State still has their season going. For round 2 Penn State played the hosts, Kansas, on Friday, December 1st to see who will make it to the Regional Semifinals. That concludes round 1 of the 2023 national championships.

~J. Miller