Sept. 20, 2013
Final Stats (PDF) I Final Stats (HTML)
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 1 Penn State women's volleyball team (7-1) limited Albany to less than nine points in each set, cruising to a 3-0 victory against the Great Danes (0-10) in the first PSU match of the Penn State Classic at home in Rec Hall.
Seniors Ariel Scott and Katie Slay led the Penn State offense with eight kills each. Redshirt sophomore Aiyana Whitney tallied a season-high seven kills on nine swings with one error, for a .667 hitting clip. Scott and Whitney and senior Deja McClendon all tied for first on the squad with eight total blocks each. Junior Micha Hancock dished out 29 digs, while pacing the team to .522 hitting.
Freshman Kelly Robertson made her first collegiate debut in the victory, posting three kills and two block assists. Senior Maggie Harding recorded her first ace of the 2013 season.
Penn State opened the contest with an early 6-0 run, 3-4, to grab a six-point advantage, 9-3. The Great Danes looked to spark momentum with a block following the break, but the Nittany Lions answered back with an 8-3 streak to secure a double-digit advantage, 17-7. Whitney, Hancock and Slay all chipped in kills during the stretch, capped off with a block from Slay and Courtney.
PSU continued to pull away, delivering another 8-1 strike to make it set-point, 24-8, led by two kills each from Slay and McClendon. The Lions secured the first set, 25-8 following an Albany attacking error.
The Nittany Lions continued the balanced attack in the second frame, jumping out to a 12-2 lead for an early advantage in the second frame. From there, Penn State allowed just four more points from the Great Danes, cruising to a 25-6 win to go up 2-0 in the match.
Scott got things rolling in the third set with a kill and a block with Slay for a 2-0 lead, before Slay doubled the advantage with a kill and a block with McClendon. The Great Danes followed with a kill to get on the board, 4-1, but PSU powered on, building the advantage as high as 11 points, 14-3, off of a 10-2 attack.
Penn State finished off the balance attack with 12-0 streak to capture the final frame, 25-4, notching the Nittany Lions' seventh sweep of the season. PSU was helped out by 27 Albany attacking errors as the Great Danes combined for a -.233 hitting percentage.
PSU returns to action tomorrow morning, taking on Eastern Kentucky at 10 a.m. before capping off the weekend with a match against Yale at 8 p.m. The 2013 Penn State women's volleyball season is presented by Rockvale Outlets.