Sept. 6, 2014
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PALO ALTO, Calif. - No. 1 Penn State women's volleyball (4-1) pushed past UCLA (3-2) in straight sets (25-19, 27-25, 25-17) Saturday evening at Maples Pavilion in the Nittany Lions' final match of the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge.
Freshman Ali Frantti recorded her fourth double-digit kill performance of the season, putting down 14 kills on .619 hitting, along with five digs. Senior Nia Grant followed closely behind with nine kills on .467 efficiency, while also logging two aces and a squad-best seven blocks.
Redshirt junior Aiyana Whitney posted seven kills on 12 swings without any attack errors, adding two blocks. Freshman Simone Lee finished third on the team with eight kills on .444 hitting, while also tying for third on the team with three blocks. Senior Micha Hancock paced the team to a .442 hitting clip, dishing out 37 assists in addition to four kills, two aces, five digs and four blocks.
Five different Nittany Lions posted at least one block in the win, as Penn State out-blocked the Bruins 10.0-1.0, recording five blocks in the opening frame.
Penn State shot out to a hot start in the first set, opening the match on an 8-2 run featuring blocks by Whitney, Hancock and Courtney and two kills from Frantti. The Bruins called a timeout to regroup and came out of the break with a 2-1 spurt to narrow the gap to five, 9-4. The Nittany Lions responded with a 5-1 streak to secure a double-digit lead, 15-5.
UCLA cut off the momentum with two consecutive kills and a block, 15-8, but PSU rebounded with kills from Frantti and Whitney to remain on top, 18-11. The Bruins rallied within four, 18-14, helped out by a quick 3-0 strike, but Penn State held off the pressure, closing out the frame on a 7-5 stretch to lock up a 25-15 win.
Both teams kept it close early in set two, until UCLA broke open a 6-all tie with two kills to move ahead by two, 8-6. Hancock looked to spark a run with a kill, 8-7, but the Bruins followed with a 4-1 streak to go up by as many as three, 12-9. A UCLA attack error put the Nittany Lions back within two, 12-10, but the Bruins fired a kill and an ace to stay in the lead, 14-10.
Rallying back, the Nittany Lions put together a 5-1 stretch to knot the frame, 15-15. From there, both UCLA and PSU battled point-for-point until a kill from Courtney and a block by Grant and Lee lifted the Nittany Lions ahead, 23-22. The Bruins responded with a 3-1 strike to make it set point, 25-24, forcing Penn State to call a timeout. Grant, Whitney and Frantti came out of the break with a trio of consecutive kills to seal a 27-25 win the second set.
Trailing by two in set three, 5-3, Penn State used a 3-0 strike to move ahead by one, 6-5. The Bruins quickly responded with three unanswered points to climb back on top, 8-6. PSU responded with a 3-1 run to re-tie the set, 9-all, but could not continue the momentum as the two teams kept the score knotted, 13-13.
The Bruins pushed ahead with back-to-back kills for a slim lead, 15-13, but Lee sparked a critical 6-0 run with two consecutive kills to put the Nittany Lions back on top, 19-15. A PSU service error cut off the rhythm, 19-16, but the Nittany Lions continued to roll, closing out the match on a 6-1 run to wrap up a 25-17 win in the third set to complete the sweep.
Next up, Penn State remains on the road, traveling to Villanova, Pa. to compete in the Villanova Classic, Sept. 12-13. The Nittany Lions have matchups against Yale, Kansas and American, along with tournament host, Villanova.