April 6, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The seventh-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team improved to a perfect 12-0 in EIVA action with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-15) victory against Sacred Heart (5-19, 2-10 EIVA) Friday night. Penn State (19-3, 12-0 EIVA) is back in action at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 7 against Harvard.
"I think you saw our best blocking defense tonight," said head coach Mark Pavlik. "I can't say enough about the effort of Nick Goodell and Joe Sunder tonight. They did a really nice job. Our blocking defense helped our offense and we were able to convert a lot of opportunities."
Redshirt freshman Nick Goodell (Ambridge, Pa.) was named the Mike Anderson Penn State Player of the Game after finishing second on the team with 11 kills on .474 hitting with a career-best eight digs and six blocks. Redshirt senior Joe Sunder (Greensburg, Pa.) led the Lions with 13 kills and tallied five blocks. Redshirt senior Edgardo Goas (San Juan, Puerto Rico) dished out 33 assists, while both Jace Olsen (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Sunder recorded five digs each. Freshman Aaron Russell (Ellicott City, Md.) led the Nittany Lions with a career-high eight blocks.
Goas paced Penn State to a .380 hitting percentage. Penn State posted 39 kills, two aces, 28 digs and a season-high 15.5 total team blocks. Sacred Heart hit .085 and recorded 27 kills, four aces, 18 digs and 4.5 team blocks.
Penn State took a 7-3 lead to star t the first set, but allowed the Pioneers to close the gap to one, 9-8. Sacred Heart kept it close until two Pioneer errors, and two kills from Goodell moved the Nittany Lions ahead by four, 17-13. Sacred Heart called a timeout and tallied a kill, but a 3-0 run by PSU had the Lions leading by six, 20-14. Penn State had a service error, but four straight errors by the Pioneers had Penn State at set point, 24-16. The Pioneers held the Nittany Lions at set point for three points before a service error secured a 25-19 win for the Lions.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 4-1 lead to start the second frame and Sacred Heart called an early timeout. Penn State continued to control the set until midway through when the Pioneers had narrowed the score to 12-10. Two PSU errors soon after aided Sacred Heart in knotting the score at 14-14. Penn State called a timeout, but an error pushed the Pioneers into the lead, 15-14. The score tied six times before kills from Russell and Olsen moved Penn State up by two, 22-20. Sacred Heart burned a timeout and pounded a kill to come within one, 22-21. However, a service error by the Pioneers and two Russell kills closed out set two for PSU, 25-22.
Penn State hopped out to a 4-0 lead in the third stanza before the Pioneers fought to within one, 6-5. A 4-0 run by the Nittany Lions, including two Sunder kills and one each from Goodell and Russell, had the Lions ahead by five, 10-5. Following a Sacred Heart timeout, the Nittany Lions held on to at least a three-point edge until a 5-1 run had the Lions leading by seven, 19-12. The Pioneers used their second timeout, but it failed to slow Penn State. Three Penn State blocks and two Pioneer errors helped Penn State run away with the set for a 25-15 victory.
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.
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