Feb. 25, 2009
University Park, Pa. - The third-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team defeated Saint Francis in three games (30-19, 30-19, 30-24) Wednesday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions improve to 12-1 and 5-0 in the EIVA Tait while the Red Flash fall to 7-8 and 3-3 in conference action.
"I was a little worried coming into this match," said head coach Mark Pavlik. "This match was about energy and recovery from last weekend. We jumped out early and executed well over the course of the match. This was an important EIVA match and we never want to take Saint Francis lightly. This team has to get better in each match, especially with a huge Lewis match on Friday. We needed to get into a rhythm tonight and we did that - tonight was about making our team better."
Junior middle hitter Max Lipsitz (Williamsville, N.Y.) led the Lions with 13 kills on .800 hitting (13-1-15) as senior middle hitter Jon Sherrick (Mountville, Pa.) collected a season-high 12 kills on .647 hitting and redshirt freshman outside hitter Joe Sunder (Greensburg, Pa.) added in 10 kills on .562 hitting. Junior outside hitter Will Price (Gaithersburg, Md.) provided nine kills as senior opposite Ryan Sweitzer (Lancaster, Pa.) produced five kills. As a team, Penn State attacked at a .532 clip for the match.
Redshirt freshman setter Edgardo Goas (San Juan, Puerto Rico) dished out 46 assists and sophomore libero Dennis Del Valle (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico) picked up 11 digs for his seventh double-digit dig match of the year. Sunder provided six digs as Price and Goas added in four and three, respectively.
Penn State outblocked Saint Francis, 13.0 to 5.0, led by Sherrick with a career-high seven stuffs as Lipsitz posted six, Sweitzer notched four and Goas and Price both contributed three.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 9-2 lead to start the match behind blocks from Lipsitz and Sweitzer and Sunder and Sherrick. Two Price kills and a Lipsitz and Sweitzer stuff made it 15-6 and another block by Sherrick and Goas forced a Saint Francis timeout at 18-8. Two Sherrick kills pushed the score to 19-11 and a Lipsitz kill and ace made it 25-15 before a Price kill ended the game, 30-19.
The second set remained even early on, with kills from Sherrick and Lipsitz breaking the 6-6 tie. A Sweitzer and Lipsitz block made it 11-8 before a Sunder kill pushed the lead to 17-12. A Lipsitz and Price block along with kills from Lipsitz, Sunder and Price extended the Penn State advantage to 23-15 before two Sherrick kills and a Sherrick and Price block competed the stanza, 30-19.
Penn State again caught fire early in the third game, going up 7-2 aided by two solo Sherrick blocks. Three Saint Francis kills and two blocks brought the Red Flash within two at 11-9. The teams traded points several times before Saint Francis grabbed the 18-16 lead behind three blocks. The squads exchanged kills several times before a Sunder kill, a Goas and Sherrick block and a Sherrick kill put Penn State back on top, 22-21. Two more Sherrick kills along with a Lipsitz and Price block pushed the score to 26-23 before kills from Lipsitz and Price ended the game, 30-24.
The Nittany Lions remain at home, hosting Lewis on Friday, Feb. 27 at 7:00 p.m. at Rec Hall before taking on NJIT on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 2:00 p.m. in the South Gym of Rec Hall due to a men's gymnastics meet at the same time in the main gym.
For more information on the Penn State men's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State men's volleyball 2009 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets and The Outlets At Hershey.