LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Penn State Women’s Volleyball is headed to the National Championship game on March 11th^Th time in the program’s history after appearing Thursday night at the KFC Yum! Center. The 3-2 (23-25, 18-25, 25-23, 28-26, 15-13) victory, which ended at nearly 1 a.m. ET, was the Nittany Lions’ first setback in the NCAA Tournament since their return at Beating Texas for the 2009 National Championship. The game was played in front of an NCAA Tournament record crowd of 21,726 fans.

Jess Mruzik caught fire in the final three sets, finishing the match with 26 kills while hitting .300 and adding 12 digs to her 13^Th Double-double of the season. She was dominant in the fifth set with six kills on eight shots, setting up Penn State for the win, keeping both the Nittany Lions’ season and their college career alive for one more game. She also reached an important milestone in her career as her kill, which put the Nittany Lions ahead 12-8, was 2,000^Th her illustrious career.

While it was Mruzik who took over late, it was redshirt freshman Caroline Jurevicius who had a career night – once again – against Nebraska. Less than a month ago, she recorded a career-high 18 kills on .414 hitting and helped Penn State capture a share of the Big Ten title with a 3-1 win over Nebraska at Rec Hall. In the recent win over the Huskers, she topped the performance by hitting .286 with 20 kills and four blocks. The Nittany Lions improved to 34-2 overall with the win.

Setter Izzy Starck, recently named AVCA National Freshman of the Year, registered her 17th^Th Double-double on the season with 56 assists and 11 digs. Junior libero Gillian Grimes narrowly missed a double-double with a game-high 25 digs and nine assists. Other notable performances included Camryn Hannah with 16 kills and five digs and Taylor Trammell with five kills and five blocks. Jordan Hopp, who came on as a substitute in the second set, contributed four blocks. Ava Falduto had two of the team’s seven aces, while Mruzik, Hannah, Starck, Grimes and Quinn Menger contributed one each.

The teams switched sides in the final set with Penn State leading 8-5, but Nebraska battled back to get within one at 9-8. The Nittany Lions responded with a 3-0 run that included two kills from Mruzik and a block from Hopp and Jurevicius to take a 12-8 lead. The Huskers fought back again and got within one point at 14:13. Penn State avoided extra points when Starck found Hannah for the game-winning kill.

Nebraska received a great match from Andi Jackson with 19 kills on .630 hitting in addition to her five blocks. Harper Murray led the team with 20 kills, while Rebekah Allick led all players with 10 blocks.

Penn State now turns its attention to third-seeded and fourth-overall Louisville. The teams will meet in a National Championship game on Sunday at 3 p.m., which will be broadcast live on ABC. The Nittany Lions are looking to win the eighth national title in program history.