Feb. 28, 2009
University Park, Pa. - The third-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team defeated EIVA opponent NJIT in three games (30-16, 30-17, 30-19) Saturday afternoon in the South Gym of Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions improve to 14-1 and 6-0 in the conference while the Highlanders fall to 3-8 and 0-6 in league action.
Fifteen Nittany Lion players saw action in the win, and senior opposite Ryan Sweitzer (Lancaster, Pa.) led all players with nine kills on an errorless 10 swings to hit .900 in two games. Senior middle hitter Jon Sherrick (Mountville, Pa.) recorded six kills on six swings while junior middle hitter Max Lipsitz (Williamsville, N.Y.) posted six kills on .444 hitting. Junior outside hitter Will Price (Gaithersburg, Md.), senior middle hitter Max Holt (Cincinnati, Ohio) and redshirt freshman outside hitter Joe Sunder (Greensburg, Pa.) all posted five kills as sophomore outside hitter Alan Mars (Rochester, N.Y.) tallied three kills and redshirt freshman setter Edgardo Goas (San Juan, Puerto Rico) notched two kills. Freshman setter Tor Covello (Yardley, Pa.), freshman outside hitter Ryan Wolf (York, Pa.) and freshman middle hitter Mark Shipp (Cincinnati, Ohio) all recorded their first collegiate kills in the contest. As a team, Penn State hit .561 for the match, its fourth match hitting more than .500 and its ninth of .400 or better.
Goas directed the offense with 34 assists as Covello dished out four assists in part of the third game. Sophomore libero Dennis Del Valle (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico) picked up eight digs in two games while senior outside hitter Jay Stauffer (Columbia, Pa.) posted four digs and Price notched three digs.
Penn State recorded eight service aces in the match, led by Lipsitz with four, Price with two and Goas and Holt with one apiece.
The Nittany Lions outblocked the Highlanders, 8.5 to 1.0. Lipsitz led the blocking front with five stuffs as Sherrick and Stauffer posted two and Goas, Price, Holt, Sunder, Covello, Wolf and Mars all tallied one.
A Holt and Sunder block put Penn State ahead 9-5 to start the match before two more blocks - one from Lipsitz and Goas and another from Price and Lipsitz - pushed the score to 15-8. A Lipsitz kill sparked a 5-0 Nittany Lion run capped by a Goas ace and a Highlander attack error to put Penn State ahead 19-9. Kills from Holt and Sweitzer made it 25-13 before a Price kill and NJIT hitting error gave Penn State the game, 30-16. Sweitzer collected six kills as the squad hit .565.
Penn State jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the second game behind back to back Lipsitz service aces. Two Price kills pushed the advantage to 16-7 and two Sherrick kills made it 23-13. Two blocks from Lipsitz and Stauffer aided the Lions in going up 26-14 before kills from Sherrick and Mars ended the game, 30-17. Penn State attacked at a .667 clip as Price, Sweitzer and Sherrick all posted three kills as Del Valle picked up four digs. Penn State sided out at 94% in the set (16-17).
The Nittany Lions picked up in the third game where they left off in the second game, going ahead 9-2 aided by a 7-0 Lipsitz serving run with kills from Sunder, Sherrick and Mars. Kills from Sherrick and Lipsitz extended the lead to 14-7 before a Mars and Lipsitz block made it 18-10. Consecutive Lipsitz aces and a solo Sherrick block pushed the score to 22-12. A Covello kill along with a Wolf, Sherrick and Covello block put Penn State ahead 24-13. Kills from Mars and Shipp helped the Lions go up 29-17 before a Wolf kill ended the game, 30-19. Sunder notched four kills in the stanza while Sherrick was perfect on all three of his attempts.
Penn State remains at home, hosting George Mason on Friday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Rec Hall.
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.