April 26, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 8 Penn State men's volleyball team (22-5) defeated Princeton (13-10) in the EIVA Semifinals Thursday evening. The top-seeded Nittany Lions will face No. 3 seed George Mason on Saturday, April 28 in the EIVA Championship match at Rec Hall. Action is set for 7 p.m. The winner earns an automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship semifinals on May 3 at USC.
Junior Tom Comfort (Orchard Park, N.Y.) led the Nittany Lions with 12 kills on .500 hitting, while redshirt senior Joe Sunder (Greensburg, Pa.) was second on the squad with 11 kills with a match-high .625 hitting percentage. Redshirt senior Edgardo Goas (San Juan, Puerto Rico) paced the offense with 31 assists. Freshman Aaron Russell (Ellicott City, Md.) and sophomore Jace Olsen (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) led the team in serving with three aces apiece. Olsen had a team-high seven digs and redshirt freshman Connor Curry (Newport Beach, Calif.) tallied six. Russell, junior Nick Turko (Lewisberry, Pa.) and Comfort each put up two blocks.
Penn State hit .418 against the Tigers and totaled 38 kills, nine aces, 24 digs and 5.0 total team blocks. Princeton registered a .208 hitting percentage with 29 kills, two aces, 17 digs and 6.0 team blocks.
The Nittany Lions wasted no time taking the lead in set one going ahead by four, 6-2. Despite a service error Penn State's lead increased to five, 8-3, and Princeton called a timeout. The Nittany Lions maintained at least a five point lead for much of the set until the Tigers closed the gap to four, 16-12. A Tiger service error and a comfort kill moved Penn State back ahead by six, 18-12. Princeton used a 5-2 run to come within three, 20-17, and force a Nittany Lion timeout. A Princeton error and a Sunder kill had the Lions ahead by four, 22-18, and the Lions never looked back. Olsen and Russell each pounded a kill to put Penn State at set point, 24-20, and the Tigers called a final timeout. Sunder closed out set one for PSU, 25-20.
The second stanza began much like the first with Penn State grabbing a 6-2 advantage. Penn State's lead hovered around four points until a 7-1 run had the Lions leading by double-digits, 19-9. Princeton used both timeouts, but failed to slow Penn State. The Lions tallied four straight points for a 23-10 lead, including back-to-back aces from Comfort. Two PSU errors aided the Tigers, but it was too little too late as another Penn State ace, this time from Sunder, gave Penn State a convincing 25-12 win.
The third set was close from the start with Princeton battling for control. The lead changed hands three times before the Tigers pushed on top by three, 12-9. Penn State called a timeout and capitalized on two Princeton errors to come within one, 12-11. Two straight aces from Olsen moved Penn State into the lead before Sunder put down two kills from a 15-12 lead. Princeton called a timeout and the squads went back and forth with Penn State maintaining at least a two-point cushion. Two consecutive kills by Princeton's Cody Kessel had the Tigers trailing by one, 19-18. Penn State used a timeout, but Princeton kept up the fight. However, two Tiger errors and a Sunder kill had the Lions with a 24-21 lead. Princeton used a timeout and managed one final kill to close the gap to two, 24-22. Sunder won the set with a kill, 25-22, for the straight set victory.
Fans can watch Saturday's match live on GoPSUsports.com via Penn State All-Access. The webstream is free. Gametracker links will also be available at GoPSUsports.com.
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.
Penn State men's volleyball is on Twitter. Follow @PSUVolleyball to get the inside scoop.