Feb. 27, 2009
University Park, Pa. - The third-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team defeated No. 10 Lewis in four games (30-21, 30-23, 25-30, 30-22) Friday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions improve to 13-1 while the Flyers fall to 10-3.
Four Lion players reached double-digit kills, led by junior outside hitter Will Price (Gaithersburg, Md.) with 17, senior opposite Ryan Sweitzer (Lancaster, Pa.) with 16, junior middle hitter Max Lipsitz (Williamsville, N.Y.) with 14 and senior middle hitter Max Holt (Cincinnati, Ohio) with 11. As a team, Penn State attacked at a .402 clip for the match.
Redshirt freshman setter Edgardo Goas (San Juan, Puerto Rico) directed the offense with 61 assists as sophomore libero Dennis Del Valle (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico) tied his career high with 16 digs, two shy of the rally-scoring school record of 18. Goas chipped in seven digs while Sweitzer posted six and redshirt freshman outside hitter Joe Sunder (Greensburg, Pa.) notched five digs and six kills. Penn State outdug Lewis, 43-27.
The Nittany Lions narrowly claimed the blocking battle, putting up 11 stuffs to the Flyers' 10. Goas, Lipsitz, Holt, Sweitzer and Sunder all claimed four blocks while Price notched one. Price, Holt and Sweitzer also led the way with two service aces apiece.
Penn State took the 13-7 lead to open the match on a Sunder kill and the teams traded points several times before consecutive Sweitzer aces and a Lewis attack error put the Nittany Lions ahead 20-10. Holt and Price put-aways extended the lead to 23-12 before two Lipsitz kills and one from Holt made it 27-18. A Price kill ended the game, 30-21.
Lewis jumped on top early in the second game, taking the 10-7 lead on a kill from Drew Pickering, one of his match-high 24 kills. Penn State fought back to knot the score at 11-11 on three consecutive kills from Sweitzer and Lipsitz, which also sparked a 7-0 Lion run capped by a triple block from Sweitzer, Lipsitz and Sunder to give Penn State the 14-11 advantage. Two Sweitzer kills pushed the score to 20-15 and a Sunder, Sweitzer and Lipsitz block pushed the score to 25-20. The teams traded points three times before two Lewis attack errors gave Penn State the game, 30-23.
The Flyers claimed the early advantage in the third set and held on the entire way, going ahead 12-7 on a block by Gustavo Cintron and Billy Sahagian. A Lipsitz kill and Sunder and Holt block pulled the Lions within four at 17-13 and Penn State trimmed the gap to two at 20-18 on a Flyer error, but a kill and a block gave them the 22-18 lead. Another block pushed Lewis up 27-21 before a Lion service error ended the game, 30-25, in favor of the Flyers.
A Lipsitz, Goas and Price block put the Nittany Lions ahead 10-8 in the fourth stanza before kills from Sweitzer and Price made it 14-10. A Goas and Holt block pushed the advantage to 18-13 before consecutive kills from Sweitzer, Goas and Lipsitz along with back to back Holt aces and another Goas kill formed a 6-0 Penn State run to give it the 24-16 lead. A Sweitzer, Lipsitz and Sunder block pushed the score to 27-19 before a Sweitzer kill ended the game, 30-22.
The Nittany Lions remain at home, 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.