Jan. 21, 2012
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The sixth-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team (2-1) suffered a 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 19-25, 20-25) setback to No. 9 Lewis (4-2) Saturday evening. Redshirt senior Joe Sunder (Greensburg, Pa.) led Penn State with 15 kills on .321 hitting.
Redshirt-freshman Nick Goodell (Ambridge, Pa.) was second on the team with 10 kills, while junior Nick Turko (Lewisberry, Pa.) had six kills on nine errorless swings. Redshirt senior Edgardo Goas (San Juan, Puerto Rico) paced the offense with 40 assists, while Goodell had a team-best three aces. Sunder led the Lions in the back row with seven digs, while redshirt freshman Connor Curry (Newport Beach, Calif.) had six. Freshman Aaron Russell (Ellicott City, Md.) had a team-best two blocks.
The Nittany Lions hit .213 against the Flyers and totaled 42 kills, nine aces, 27 digs and 2.5 total team blocks. Lewis finished the night with a .429 attack percentage along with 50 kills, three aces, 26 digs and 10.0 team blocks.
The Flyers took an early 7-3 lead in the first frame forcing a Penn State timeout. Three Lewis service errors helped Penn State close the gap to three, 10-7, but soon after the Flyers were ahead by five, 13-8. Thanks to a Russell kill and a triple block by Russell, Sunder and Goodell, Penn State was within three a second time, 15-12. After a service error by each team, two Goodell aces had Penn State within one, 15-14. After a Flyer timeout, a Sunder ace allowed the Lions to tie it up at 17-17. The score tied five times before a Lewis ace moved the Flyers in front, 23-22. Penn State called a timeout and despite an error a Sunder kill kept Penn State within one, 24-23. Lewis used its second timeout and a kill from Greg Petty closed out the set in Lewis' favor, 25-23.
The teams stayed neck-in-neck in set two until a 4-1 run by the Flyers had Lewis ahead by five, 14-9. However, a 7-3 run by the Lions, including aces from Goas and Russell and a Sunder kill had Penn State trailing by only one, 17-16. Penn State called a timeout and another Russell ace had the score knotted at 17 all. The Flyers moved back out in front with a narrow 20-18 lead, but a Russell kill and back-to-back Turko aces pushed the Lions into the lead, 22-21. Lewis headed to the bench, but two Flyer errors and a Russell putdown secured set two for the Nittany Lions, 25-22.
The third stanza began much like the second with neither team developing a strong lead until midway through the set. Lewis had a 15-10 advantage, which grew to seven, 20-13, with the aid of four PSU errors. Despite two kills from Goodell and one each from junior Ian Hendries (Cardiff, Calif.) and Russell, errors continued to plague PSU as Lewis ran off with a 25-19 victory.
Penn State continued to fight in the fourth and final set, staying within at least two until the halfway point when a 4-1 Flyer run had Lewis leading by three, 14-11. Penn State called a timeout and two straight Russell putdowns had Pen State tying it up at 14-14. A Lewis kill and block moved the Flyers back into the lead by two, 16-14, an advantage the team would maintain for the remainder of the set. Lewis capitalized on three PSU errors to move ahead by four, 22-18, and force Penn State to burn its second timeout. Turko and Sunder each pounded a kill for Penn State, but it was too little too late as the Flyers won the set, 25-20.
Penn State is back in action on Jan. 27-28 at the Ken and Dave Dunlap Invitational hosted by Ohio State. The Nittany Lions face Stanford on Friday, Jan. 27 before taking on Pacific on Saturday, Jan. 28. Both matches are scheduled for 5 p.m.
For more information on the Penn State men's volleyball team, please visit GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State men's volleyball 2012 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets.