Sept. 14, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The fourth-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-9, 25-13, 25-12) win against Portland to open the Penn State Classic on Friday evening. The Nittany Lions (8-1) continue their final weekend of non-conference play Saturday morning at 10 a.m. versus Duquesne before taking on Eastern Illinois at 8 p.m.
Junior Deja McClendon (Louisville, Ky.) led Penn State with 15 kills and a .609 hitting percentage. Junior Ariel Scott (Ridgewood, N.J.) posted 11 kills on .556 hitting. Sophomore setter Micha Hancock (Edmond, Okla.) dished out 37 digs and tallied five blocks, while sophomore Lacey Fuller (San Diego, Calif.) and freshman Megan Courtney (Dayton, Ohio) had eight digs apiece. Junior Katie Slay (Raleigh, N.C.) tied with Hancock with five blocks and also had eight kills on nine errorless swings.
Penn State hit an impressive .566 against the Pilots and totaled 48 kills, four aces, 37 digs and 8.0 total team blocks. Portland had 18 kills, no aces, 20 digs and 2.0 team blocks.
The Nittany Lions opened the match taking a 7-4 lead and sending Portland to the bench for a timeout. Penn State continued to press on with a 10-1 run for a 17-5 lead. A service error gave the ball to the Pilots, but a Slay kill and a Fuller ace had PSU with a 19-6 advantage. The Pilots used their second timeout during Penn State's 10 point run, but capitalized on two Nittany Lion errors and a kill from their Rachel Femling to make it 20-9. Kills from Scott, Courtney, sophomore Nia Grant (Warren, Ohio) and an ace from freshman Lara Caraway (Evans City, Pa.) closed out set one for Penn State, 25-9.
The second frame was close at the start, but a Scott kill sparked a 5-0 run by Penn state for a 10-5 advantage. After a Portland timeout, the Pilots managed to stay within five points until two errors increased Penn State's lead to seven, 17-9. Portland used their second timeout with the score at 18-11, but Penn State was unfazed. Back-to-back kills from McClendon had the Lions with a nine-point lead, 20-11 before a 5-1 run that had Penn State winning the set, 25-13.
The Nittany Lions took a 4-1 lead to start the final set. The Pilots closed the gap to three, 6-3, but Penn State's lead began to grow again. By midway through the set, Penn State was leading by five, 12-7. However, the Pilots used a kill and two PSU errors to come within three, 13-10. McClendon pounded a kill to begin a 10-1 run for a 22-11 advantage. Autumn Wedan hit one final kill for the Pilots before kills from Slay and junior Maddie Martin (Tampa, Fla.) had the Lions taking set three, 25-12.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State women's volleyball 2012 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets.
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