Sept. 5, 2009
Tournament Central
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 1 Penn State women's volleyball team secured a convincing 3-0 (25-8, 25-8, 25-10) win against Robert Morris (3-4) Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions improve to 5-0 on the season heading into Saturday evening's matchup with Pittsburgh at 7 p.m.
Junior Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) led all players with 11 kills, while freshman Darcy Dorton (Muncie, Ind.) was second on the team with nine kills. Junior Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) tallied seven kills on seven errorless swings and classmate Fatima Balza (Merida, Venezuela) had seven kills on 14 attacks (.500). Senior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) paced the Nittany Lion offense with 33 assists and junior libero Alyssa D'Errico posted a match-high 14 digs.
The Nittany Lions attacked at a .500 clip and held the Colonials to -.077. Penn State outdug (42-18) and outblocked (5.5-2.0) RMU and registered eight service aces.
Penn State reached a double-digit lead, 10-0, in the first set before the Colonials were able to get on the board. Brown started off the match with a kill and after a Colonial attack error, Dorton added two kills for a 4-0 lead. After an early RMU timeout, one kill each from Hodge and Glass and two from Brown had Penn State ahead by 10. Two PSU attack errors made it a 10-2 match, but Balza kept Robert Morris from gaining any momentum. Penn State was leading by 10 again moments later after kills from Balza and Wilson for a 14-4 advantage. RMU's MacKenzie Tonn notched a kill, but a Hodge kill and a Colonial ball handling error moved PSU ahead by 11, 16-5. Kills from Brown, Balza and Dorton, in addition to an RMU attack error secured a 25-8 first set victory for the Nittany Lions.
The Nittany Lions took another early lead in the second set. Brown once again began the set with a kill and an attack error by RMU's Amanda Craig had Penn State up 2-0. A PSU service error put Robert Morris on the board, but kills from Balza and Brown made the score 4-1 in favor of PSU. Wilson, sophomore Katie Kabbes (Raleigh, N.C.) and Dorton all posted kills and with a service ace from Kabbes, the Colonials took a timeout. The timeout failed to slow the Nittany Lions who immediately tallied another kill for a 9-3 lead. An attack for a kill by Glass and an attack error from RMU's Addie Jennings put Penn State up by seven, 11-4. Attack errors continued to plague the Colonials and pushed the Nittany Lions ahead by 11, 18-7. A kill from Brown and an ace from D'Errico easily put the set out of Robert Morris' reach. Three straight Penn State kills gave the Nittany Lions a 23-7 lead, but a PSU service error put the ball into RMU's hands. However the Colonials were unable to capitalize and Kabbes and Wilson closed out the set for a second 25-8 second set win.
Glass started off the third set with an ace before an RMU error and two Brown kills had the Nittany Lions leading 4-1. From there, freshman Kristin Carpenter (Mechanicsville, Va.) recorded her first collegiate kill to keep Penn State's momentum going. Robert Morris prevented the Nittany Lions from running away early with a kill by Hannah Veith and a block from Alyssa Bennett and Jaye Hellmich. Glass pounded a kill for a 9-5 advantage and back-to-back aces from Carpenter had the Nittany Lions gaining speed for an 11-5 lead. RMU remained unable to find any answer for the Penn State offense as Dorton, Balza and Brown all registered kills to give PSU a double-digit advantage, 18-7. The Colonials used one last timeout, but Penn State was unphased. After an error by both sides, Carpenter closed out the match with back-to-back kills for the 25-10 triumph.
The Nittany Lions continue play in Saturday night against Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall. The match will be streamed live on the web at GoPSUsports.com and live stats will be available.