Sept. 17, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 5 Penn State women's volleyball team continued play in the 2011 Hampton Inn Classic with a 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-14) victory against Rutgers (6-8) on Saturday morning. The Nittany Lions conclude tournament play tonight at 7 p.m. vs. Florida Gulf Coast.
Sophomore Katie Slay (Raleigh, N.C.) led the team with 10 kills in 13 errorless attempts on a career-best .769 hitting. Sophomore Ariel Scott (Ridgewood, N.J.) was second on the team with nine kills, while freshman Aiyana Whitney (Norwood, N.J.) tallied seven. Freshman Micha Hancock (Edmond, Okla.) dished out 33 assists and had two aces. Sophomore Deja McClendon (Louisville, Ky.) had a match-high 10 digs and Slay had four total blocks.
The Nittany Lions hit .419 against the Scarlet Knights, totaling 45 kills, four aces, 35 digs and 8.0 total team blocks. Rutgers hit .048 and had 22 kills, two aces, 25 digs and 2.0 team blocks.
Penn State grabbed a 4-1 lead to open the match. Rutgers tallied two points to make it 4-3, but a 4-0 Nittany Lion run had PSU up by five, 8-3. The Scarlet Knights stayed within five until a 5-1 run widened the gap to nine, 18-9. A Slay kill sparked a second 5-1 run putting Penn State at set point, 24-12. An attack error by the Scarlet Knights secured set one for Penn State, 25-12.
The Nittany Lions wasted no time taking control in set two leaping out to a 6-1 lead. Tiffany Regmund cut off the early run with a kill, but three straight Scarlet Knight errors and two PSU kills had Penn State up by eight, 11-3. Penn State held on to at least a seven-point advantage until a kill by Sofu Cucuz and a Rutgers ace had the Scarlet Knights within five, 20-15. Penn State pounded three kills in a row to force a Rutgers timeout. Rutgers earned their final two points off of PSU errors before Scott put down a kill to give Penn State a 25-17 second set win.
It wasn't until almost midway through the third frame that Penn State managed to develop a comfortable lead. With the score knotted at 10-10, the Lions embarked on a 6-0 run for a 16-10 lead. Rutgers managed to come within four, 17-13, but kills from Slay and McClendon and three Rutgers errors had Penn State convincingly ahead, 22-13. Rutgers called a timeout, but two kills and a solo stuff by Hancock closed out the set for Penn State, 25-14.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State women's volleyball 2011 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets.