It was the first ranked win of the season for Washington (9-8, 4-3 Big Ten) which knocked off the Nittany Lions for the first time since joining the Big Ten, and the first time since 2006. That 2006 match was Penn State’s most recent visit to Hec Ed, and UW also prevailed 19 years ago in the NCAA Elite Eight in the last NCAA tourney match Penn State would lose until 2011 as it would win four titles in a row from 2007-10.
“I was proud of how we came out and were on our scouting report,” said Head Coach Leslie Gabriel, whose Huskies have won four of their past five. “I thought they did a good job pressuring Penn State. They’re a great team and they’re not going to roll over after two sets. They came back, but our girls stayed on track.”
Someone who knows how tough it is to beat the Nittany Lions, Alexa and the Huskies had what it took down the stretch.#PointHuskies // @NCAAVolleyball pic.twitter.com/Oadz6LQrDK
— Washington Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) October 18, 2025
In front of a Mariners-enthused crowd of 4,431 at Alaska Airlines Arena, the Dawgs rolled through two sets, 25-11 and 25-17, before Penn State fought back with a close third set win, 25-23, and a 25-20 win in the fourth. From 12-11 in set five, Markley had two-straight kills to get the Huskies to match point at 14-11. After PSU saved two, and the Huskies called a timeout, they came back on the court and setter Alexis Haury went right back to Markley again and she finished it with one more swing.
On Markley, Gabriel said, “I was proud of her, it’s hard to go against your former team when they know so much about you and you know so much about them. It can go one of two ways, you can be so worried about how you do that you don’t play well, but I thought she did a really good job tonight and played hard.”
Markley hit .308 with the 16 kills adding 13 digs for her second career double-double. Kierstyn Barton had 14 kills, hitting .295 with just one error for the night, plus nine digs. Simona Mateska had one of her best matches as well, hitting .393 with 13 kills and a career-high 14 digs. Julia Hunt added five kills and four blocks with two aces, hitting .556.
Alexa Markley calls game ??@UWVolleyball takes down No. 17 Penn State ?? pic.twitter.com/ixsak3dY9Y
— Big Ten Volleyball (@B1GVolleyball) October 18, 2025
Senior libero Zoria Heard turned in a career night in the back row, digging 27, as Washington out-dug Penn State, 74 to 67. That was 22 digs more than UW’s previous season-high. Alexis Haury also had a double-double with 43 assists and 10 digs.
“Zoria’s doing what Zoria does every match,” said Gabriel. “Every match she’s producing a ton of digs for us, keeping balls flying and extending matches. I love how she’s playing and seeing the game.”
Washington dominated sets one and two, hitting .345 in the first while PSU was in the negatives at -.054. And in set two UW kept rolling at a .391 mark with Penn State at just .069. The Dawgs were close to closing it out in a sweep, leading 22-21 in set three, but Penn State had back-to-back aces to help stay alive, and another late run in set four forced the fifth.
UW got momentum back with a crucial challenge overrule on the first point of set five, giving a kill to Barton on a touch that was initially called an error; that was followed by an ace by Hunt, and soon UW was up, 6-2. The Huskies maintained that to 11-7 until Penn State scored three in a row to ramp up the tension again. But Markley took over with the three final UW kills, as the Huskies hit .333 in set five.
Up Next: Saturday night the Huskies will vie for a second-straight top-20 win, as 18th-ranked Minnesota comes in for another 7 p.m. first serve. The 2005 NCAA Championship team will be honored throughout the match, and the Huskies will be wearing 2005 throwback uniforms.
