UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State finished off a series sweep of Sacred Heart with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 27-25, 25-15) win in an EIVA match Saturday at Rec Hall’s South Gym. The Nittany Lions upped their record to 8-14 overall and moved into second place in the conference standings at 5-3. The Pioneers fell to 6-15, 0-10.
Sean Harvey had the best match of his redshirt freshman season on his birthday, hitting .533 with a career-high 18 kills and a career-high seven blocks. He added three digs. Harvey was one of three Penn State players with double-digit kills as Will Kuhns hit .435 with 14 kills and three aces and Matthew Luoma hit .333 with 12 kills and two aces.
Michael Schwob led the Nittany Lions’ attack to .420 hitting with his 46 assists and neared a double-double with eight digs. Owen Rose helped that efficiency with his eight kills on .700 hitting.
Ryan Merk matched Schwob with a team-high eight digs while helping hold Sacred Heart to .223 hitting. Luoma and Rose contributed to the defense at the net with four blocks apiece.
The Pioneers were led by Aleksa Mandic for the second-straight day. He hit .267 with 17 kills and two aces, while Jaron Popp and Petr Beranek also reached double-digits with 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
Penn State improved to 25-2 all-time against Sacred Heart and has now won each of the past 13 meetings dating back to 2018.
Set 1
Penn State had more kills, more blocks, and more digs but came up short in a 25-23 loss in the opening set. Sacred Heart was led by Mandic and Beranek, who each tallied three kills and an ace. It was a close set throughout as it featured 11 ties and six lead changes. Penn State led as late as 23-22 following a kill by Rose. Sacred Heart responded with a 3-0 run to get the win, scoring on a kill by Beranek, a Penn State attack error, and an ace by Beranek.
Set 2
Penn State hit .667 behind 11 assists from Schwob while winning the second set 25-16. Luoma hit .714 with five kills, while Harvey had four kills on .375 hitting. Penn State forced an early Sacred Heart timeout with a 4-0 run to open the set. Gaige Gabriel had a kill and a block during that stretch, while Kuhns had a kill and an ace. The Nittany Lions went on to lead by as much as 10 at 22-12 following a solo block by Luoma and again at 24-14 after a kill by Harvey.
Set 3
Harvey hit .636 and had seven of the team’s 13 kills to help Penn State outlast Sacred Heart 27-25 in set three. Kuhns was clutch from the service line with a pair of aces that helped the Nittany Lions start with a 2-0 lead. Penn State went up 14-9 to force a Sacred Heart timeout. The Pioneers fought back to tie it at 19-19 but had to call another timeout after the Nittany Lions scored back-to-back points to go up 21-19. The timeout proved worthwhile as Sacred Heart came out of it with a 3-0 run that turned the tables and forced a Penn State timeout. This time it was the Nittany Lions that came out of the timeout with a 3-0 run to go up 24-22 after back-to-back kills by Harvey and Luoma. The Pioneers stopped the Nittany Lions’ chances at set point at 24-23 and 25-24 with kills by Mandic and Popp. Harvey gave the Nittany Lions a third chance with a kill and then put it away himself with another kill to close the set.
Set 4
Schwob led Penn State to .607 hitting with his 12 assists as it rolled to a 25-15 win in the fourth set. Kuhns hit .779 with seven kills, while Harvey had four kills on .667 hitting. The Nittany Lions never trailed in the set and took the lead for good after a 3-0 run put them up 6-3. That run included a kill by Rose and an ace by Luoma. They later used another 3-0 run to go up 22-13, this time getting kills from Harvey and Luoma and an ace from Schwob. With Penn State leading 24-15, Miller Trubey came on as a substitution and came through with a nice serve that led to a Sacred Heart attack error and match point for the Nittany Lions.
Career Highs
Sean Harvey – kills (18), blocks (7)
Up Next
Penn State goes on the road for a pair of EIVA matches at George Mason on Friday and Saturday. The Patriots are 13-10 overall and 4-4 in the conference following three straight losses to Harvard (3-0), Princeton (3-1), and Princeton (3-0) again.