Jan. 12, 2014
HONOLULU - The No. 11 Penn State men's volleyball team (1-2) closed out the 2014 Outrigger Invitational with a 3-0 victory (28-26, 25-20, 25-19) against No. 12 Ohio State (0-3) on Saturday evening at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Redshirt-junior Nick Goodell led the offense for the second consecutive match, tallying 13 kills on .417 hitting, adding seven digs, two aces and one block. Junior Aaron Russell and senior Peter Russell both added double-digit kills, with 10 and 12, respectively. Redshirt-freshman Matt Callaway totaled five kills with a team-high three blocks, while redshirt-sophomore Matt Seifert added eight kills on .417 hitting.
Redshirt-sophomore Taylor Hammond paced the Nittany Lions to a .312 hitting efficiency, dishing out 44 assists, while also adding four digs and one block.
Down by one, 4-3, early in the first frame, the Buckeyes went on a 4-1 streak to double their lead, 8-4. Capitalizing on OSU errors, Penn State rebounded with a 3-1 spurt, trimming the advantage to two, 9-7. An Ohio State kill and a PSU error brought the Buckeyes up by as many as four, 11-7, before the Nittany Lions answered with a 7-3 streak to tie the set, 14-14.
Keeping it close, the two teams tied the frame two more times before PSU broke open a 17-all tie, moving ahead by two, 19-17. Following an Ohio State timeout, both the Buckeyes and the Nittany Lions continued to battle point-for-point, until Penn State put together a 3-0 streak, featuring a kill and a block from Seifert to make it set-point, 24-21.
Rallying, Ohio State tallied a pair of kills and an ace to go up by one, 25-24. A service error temporarily halted the momentum, but two PSU errors put Ohio State back up by one, 26-25, forcing Penn State to call a timeout. Aaron came out of the break firing, pounding three consecutive kills to secure a 28-26 win in the first set.
Tied at 5-all in the second set, Penn State used a 4-2 run to take control of a 9-7 advantage. Despite maintaining the edge, the Buckeyes remained close behind. Ahead by one, 14-13, PSU capitalized on three consecutive OSU errors to move ahead by four, 17-13. Penn State continued to remain in control, until the Buckeyes rallied to tie it up, 18-18, helped out by 5-1 strike. Peter put an end to the streak with back-to-back kills, before Aaron added another to make it 21-18.
The Buckeyes answered with a kill and an ace to jump within one, 21-20, but Penn State finished off the second set with a 4-0 run to lock up a 25-20 win in the second stanza.
Trailing by two in the third, 5-3, Aaron sparked a 5-0 run with a pair of back-to-back kills, lifting the Nittany Lions ahead, 8-5. A PSU attack error interrupted the rhythm, but Penn State continued to roll, maintaining a comfortable cushion. With PSU leading 16-12, Ohio State looked to get back on track with a kill, but the Nittany Lions answered with the next five unanswered points, extending the lead to eight, 21-13.
The Buckeyes looked for one more opportunity to mount a comeback, following a PSU service error with a kill, but Penn State powered to set-point, 24-16. OSU held off three attempts before Goodell closed out a 25-19 win with a kill to complete the sweep.
Next up, the Nittany Lions return home to kick off the home portion of the 2014 slate. Penn State hosts IPFW Friday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. in its home opener, before taking on Ball State Saturday, Jan. 18 at 4 p.m. in Rec Hall.