Penn State volleyball beats Louisville for its eighth national title and first in 10 years

The GIST: No. 1 seed Penn State women’s volleyball defeated fellow No. 1 seed Louisville in four sets in yesterday’s national championship game, claiming the program’s eighth overall title and first in a decade.

• And the Nittany Lions did it in historic fashion: Head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who won a natty as a player with Penn State in 1999, is now the first woman to coach her team to a Division I volleyball title. File that under things we love to see.

How it happened: The Nittany Lions jumped out to an early lead before Louisville evened things up with an epic marathon win in the second set. But the Cardinals ran out of gas from there, and Penn State found a spike in energy, winning consecutive sets handily to take home the title.

• Graduate student outside hitter Jess Mruzik was the difference-maker for the champs, nabbing Most Outstanding Player honors with her 29 kills, 14 digs, and five blocks. Truly doing it all.

Zooming out: Viewership numbers for yesterday’s final aren’t out yet, but a whole host of records have already been aced. The semifinals drew 1.1M viewers, a 4% increase from last season’s numbers. Not to mention, a record-setting crowd of 21,726 fans took in the semifinals action.

• As for yesterday’s title game, a national record 21,860 fans packed the KFC Yum! Center to watch the confetti fall. And with more pro volleyball options than ever before, it’s just the start of spiking growth in the sport.