Sept. 14, 2013
FORT MYERS, Fla. - In front of a record crowd, the No. 3 Penn State women's volleyball team capped off the weekend in the Hilton Garden Inn Homewood Suites Classic with a 3-0 victory against tournament host FGCU in Alico Arena.
The Nittany Lions did not lose a single set this weekend, tallying three consecutive straight-set wins to claim the tournament title.
Senior Katie Slay and sophomore Megan Courtney both led the team with nine kills each. Slay also recorded a season high .818 hitting percentage, while racking up a squad-best four blocks. Junior Micha
Hancock dished out 31 assists, while registering three aces, five digs, one block and pacing the team to a .381 hitting clip. Defensively, junior Dominique Gonzalez posted a team-high 11 digs.
Penn State opened the match on a 13-2 streak, using two kills from Slay and a pair of blocks by Slay and Courtney to build an early advantage. FGCU's Christine Pinder tallied two consecutive kills in an attempt to halt the momentum, but the strike did not faze the Nittany Lions, as Grant and Kendall Pierce answered back with a kill and an ace to stop the comeback, 16-4.
From there, PSU cruised to set point on an 8-1 stretch. McClendon closed out the frame with a kill for a 25-8 win.
The two teams kept it close early in the second stanza before Grant broke open a tie game, 5-5, with a kill. PSU continued to pull away, but the Eagles managed to battle within one, 11-10, after a kill from FGCU's Karina Mambuca. Penn State remained on top, closing the set on an 8-0 run to go up 2-0 in the match.
Both teams traded the lead briefly in the in the third set before a kill from Pinder knotted the set, 10-10. Penn State rallied ahead with a 5-1 spurt, led by two kills from Slay, taking a 15-11 lead. From there, PSU used a balanced attack to claim a 25-17 win in the final set for the victory.
Penn State returns home next weekend to host the Penn State Classic, welcoming Albany, Eastern Kentucky and Yale to Rec Hall for a trio of matches. PSU will kick off its final non-conference tournament of the season Friday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. against Albany. The 2013 Penn State women's volleyball season is presented by Rockvale Outlets.