Sept. 12, 2014
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VILLANOVA, Pa. - No. 3 Penn State women's volleyball (5-1) rallied from behind to defeat American (5-3) in four sets (26-24, 25-8, 25-14, 25-16) Friday afternoon at the Pavilion.
With the victory, the Nittany Lions improve to 1-0 in the Villanova Classic, with a matchup against the tournament host Wildcats set for 7:30 p.m. at the Pavilion. The match will stream live with a paid subscription, here.
Freshman Ali Frantti led the offense with her third consecutive double-digit kill performance, tallying 12 kills, three digs and two blocks. Senior Nia Grant also notched double-digit kills, putting down a season-high 10 kills on a team-high .571 hitting clip. She also added five blocks and tied for first on the squad with five blocks. Redshirt junior Aiyana Whitney posted a career-high mark, finishing tied for first on the team with five blocks, while also adding eight kills.
Senior Micha Hancock turned in an impressive performance from the service line, tallying a season-high eight aces, while also contributing five kills, four digs and two blocks.
Penn State opened the match in a back-and-forth battle with Eagles, until the Nittany Lions used a 3-0 run to break away from a 4-all tie, moving ahead by two, 7-4. American halted the streak with back-to-back kills, but Frantti and Lee teamed up for two consecutive kills to keep the Nittany Lions on top, 9-6.
Rallying, the Eagles answered with five unanswered points to take over a two-point lead, 11-9. An AU attack error cut off the stretch, but the Eagles regrouped with a 4-0 spurt to move ahead by as many as five, 15-10. Penn State responded with a 3-1 strike to trim the gap to three, 16-13, before a service error halted the momentum, 17-13.
Regrouping, PSU used another 3-0 stretch capped off by back-to-back aces from Gonzalez to jump within one, 17-16. Two straight Penn State errors pushed the Eagles ahead by three, 19-16, but Courtney looked to spark a run with a kill, 19-17. With Penn State unable to put together a streak, American followed with a 5-1 stretch to make it set point, 24-20.
Keeping the Nittany Lions alive in the frame, an Eagle service error held off the attempt. Rallying, Courtney and Frantti pounded kills in between a block from Courtney and Whitney to tie the set, 24-24. Unable to pull off the comeback, an American kill and a Penn State attack error handed the Eagles set one, 26-24.
Penn State shot out to a 7-2 start in the second set helped out by kills from Courtney and Whitney. A PSU service error slowed the rhythm, but the Nittany Lions constructed a 4-0 streak featuring kills from Whitney, Grant and Lee to go up by eight, 11-3. The Eagles used a 3-1 strike to cut the advantage back to six, 12-6, but Penn State powered ahead on a 7-1 run to bolster the lead to double-digits, 19-7. The Eagles attempted to regroup with a kill, 19-8, but Penn State surged to a 25-8 win in the second frame, helped out by six unanswered points down the stretch.
Trailing by one in set three, 7-6, Courtney sparked a 4-0 PSU run to put the Nittany Lions on top, 10-7, forcing American to call a timeout. The Eagles came out of the break with a kill, 10-8, but Penn State continued to cruise, using a 10-4 stretch to maintain a comfortable cushion, 20-12.
American looked to build some momentum following a PSU attack error, 20-13, but the Nittany Lions answered with a 5-1 streak capped off by a solo stuff from Lee and a kill from Courtney to lock up a 25-14 win in the third set. Penn State got out to a hot start in the fourth frame, charging out to an 8-1 advantage, finished off by three aces from Hancock.
The Eagles followed a PSU service error with an ace to break up the momentum, 8-3, but the Nittany Lions responded with a 5-2 stretch to remain on top, 13-5. Unable to shake the Eagles, American answered with a 4-1 strike to shave the lead back to five, 14-9. Frantti pounded back-to-back kills to extend the advantage to seven, 16-9, but the Eagles used a 3-0 burst to jump within four, 16-12.
Holding off the pressure, Frantti hit two more consecutive kills to help the Nittany Lions open up a 9-4 run to lead PSU to a 25-16 win in the fourth set, securing the win.