April 5, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 12th-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team (18-6) earned a 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-20) win against Lees-McRae on Senior Night. The team's six seniors were honored prior to the match.
Sophomore Aaron Russell (Ellicott City, Md.), the Mike Anderson Penn State Player of the Match, tied for first on the team with 10 kills. Redshirt sophomore Nick Goodell (Ambridge, Pa.) also tallied 10 kills on .444 hitting. Redshirt freshman Taylor Hammond (Mission Viejo, Calif.) dished out 30 assists and was second on the team with five digs. Redshirt sophomore Connor Curry (Newport Beach, Calif.) had a match-high seven digs and senior Ian Hendries (Cardiff, Calif.) put up a match-best four blocks.
Penn State hit .388 against Lees-McRae. The Nittany Lions totaled 37 kills, five aces, 24 digs and 10.0 team blocks. Lees-McRae (17-12) hit .111 with 26 kills, one ace, 12 digs and 3.0 team blocks.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 7-2 lead in set one. Two straight PSU errors moved the Bobcats within three, 7-4. After a service error by each team, a triple block by Hendries, redshirt junior Scott Kegerreis (Honeybrook, Pa.) and Hammond and a Goodell kill had the Lions ahead by five, 10-5. LMC pounded a kill, but a service error by the Bobcats and a Hammond ace gave Penn State a 12-6 advantage. Lees-McRae called a timeout, but Penn State took off on a 5-2 run for a 17-9 lead. The Bobcats used a 3-1 run to narrow the gap to six, 18-12, but two Bobcat errors and two Kegerreis putdowns helped Penn State move back ahead by eight, 22-14. A service error by PSU gave the ball to LMC, but two Russell kills and a solo stuff by redshirt freshman Matt Seifert (Reading, Pa.) secured set one for PSU, 25-15.
The second frame was close from the start and the score was knotted at 11-11 near the midpoint of the set. However, three Lees-McRae errors and a Russell kill pushed Penn State ahead by four, 15-11. Following a Bobcat timeout, the two squads traded points until a Kegerreis kill sparked a 5-0 Nittany Lion run to put Penn State at set point, 24-14. Two PSU errors cut the Penn State lead to single-digits, 24-16, but Kegerreis closed out set two with a kill for a 25-16 win.
Penn State hopped out to a 5-2 lead in the third stanza, but a PSU error and an LMC kill had the Bobcats within one, 5-4. The Bobcats kept it close until a 5-1 Penn State run increased the gap to seven, 14-7. Lees-McRae used a timeout and embarked on a 4-1 run to narrow the gap to four, 15-11. Penn State maintained at least a four-point lead throughout the middle of the set until a 3-1 run had the Bobcats trailing by only three, 21-18. Penn State used a timeout and back-to-back kills gave Penn State a five-point cushion, 23-18. Lees-McRae managed two final points before a kill from senior Kyle Mars (Rochester, N.Y.) and an LMC error gave Penn State a 25-20 victory.
Penn State travels to Irvine, Calif. on April 12-13. The Nittany Lions face Concordia on Friday before challenging nationally-ranked UC Irvine on Saturday. Both matches are set for 10 p.m. ET starts.
For more information on the Penn State men's volleyball team, please visit GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State men's volleyball 2013 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets.
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