Penn State Ends Cougars’ Perfect Start No. 5 Nittany Lions Defeat No. 6 WSU In Tournament Final

No. 5 Penn State outranked No. 6 Washington State 15-6, 15-8, 15-11 Saturday to win the championship match of the Chicago Tribune Mizuno USA Cup at Mother McAuley High School in south Chicago.

The Nittany Lions (8-0), the first ranked team the Cougars had played this season, ended WSU’s 24-game winning streak.

“They cleaned our clocks, there’s no doubt about it,” Washington State coach Cindy Fredrick said.

WSU enters Tuesday’s match at Idaho at 8-1. The Vandals won their Vandal Classic tournament Saturday night to improve to 9-0.

In Saturday’s first game, Penn State used the hitting of Terri Zemaitis to run up a 12-3 lead before WSU rallied behind Sarah Silvernail (seven kills and three blocks).

“We learned there are a few things we have to take care of. Probably the biggest thing is that we had a mental shutdown,” Fredrick said.

In the second game, the Cougars raced to a 6-1 lead, but errors allowed the Nittany Lions to climb back. Penn State tied the game at 8-8 with an Angie Kammer kill and used their blocking to increase its lead.

In the third game, the Cougars got within two points, 13-11, before Penn State answered with five kills.

Silvernail and WSU teammate Stephanie Papke made the all-tournament team.

In the consolation final, No. 11 Notre Dame (6-3) defeated Clemson (6-4) 15-12, 15-4, 15-7.