Oct. 24, 2014
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A freshman duo featuring Ali Frantti and Haleigh Washington powered No. 7 Penn State women's volleyball team (19-, 7-2) to a straight set (25-18, 25-16, 25-16) victory against Michigan (10-9, 5-4) Friday night at Rec Hall in front of a season-high home crowd (4,622).
Frantti and Washington fueled the offense with double-digit kills. Frantti tallied 15 kills on .429 hitting, adding two digs and one block. Washington followed close behind with 10 kills on .421 hitting, while also tying for first on the team with four blocks.
Including the freshman pair, Hancock paced four Nittany Lion attackers to .421 or better hitting, while also hitting .800 herself with four kills on five errorless swings. Hancock dished out 34 assists to go along with two aces, seven digs and three blocks.
Junior Megan Courtney tallied seven kills, while also leading the defensive effort with nine digs. Senior Dominique Gonzalez finished tied for second on the squad with seven digs.
Trailing by one, 3-2, early in set one, the Nittany Lions used a 5-0 streak, featuring two consecutive kills from Washington to move ahead by four, 7-3. Michigan followed with a 6-3 stretch to narrow the gap to one, 10-9. Frantti and Whitney pounded a pair of kills to lift the Nittany Lions ahead, 12-9. The Wolverines responded with a 3-1 spurt to remain with one, 13-12, but two kills from Whitney and Courtney kept PSU on top 15-12, heading into the media timeout.
Despite an attack error out of the break, Michigan used a kill and a block to arrive within two, 16-14. Penn State held off the momentum with a 5-1 run to build the advantage to five, 20-15. U-M looked to regroup with a 3-2 stretch, but a service error made it set point, 24-18. Grant followed with an ace to put away a 25-18 win in the first set.
Tied at 3-3 in set two, Penn State charged ahead on a 6-0 streak, helped out by five consecutive Michigan attack errors to go up 9-3. Michigan looked to get back on track with a kill, 9-4, but Whitney sparked a 3-0 streak, capped off by a solo stuff from Washington to bolster the Nittany Lion lead to eight, 12-4.
Penn State came out of the break with three more unanswered points before the Wolverines battled back with a 7-2 run to shave the advantage down to five, 17-11. PSU responded with a 5-1 run to stretch the lead to double digits, 22-12. Michigan looked to rally with a 3-2 strike, 23-14, but Courtney slammed a kill to make it set point, 24-14. The Wolverines held off two attempts before another kill from Courtney closed out a 25-16 win in the second set to put PSU up 2-0 in the match.
The Nittany Lions came out of the intermission with a 3-0 run for an early lead. Michigan quickly followed with a 5-2 stretch to tie the frame, 5-5. Washington put down a kill and posted up for a block with Hancock to lift PSU ahead, 7-5, but U-M tallied two kills to keep the score tied, 7-7. Pulling ahead, Courtney sparked a 5-0 run the moved Penn State ahead by as many as five, 12-7, forcing the Wolverines to call a timeout.
Michigan attempted to break up the rhythm with a block, 12-8, but Penn State responded with a 6-2 streak to bolster the lead to eight, 18-10, causing Michigan to use its final timeout of the stanza. U-M came out of the break with a 4-1 spurt to trim the deficit to five, 19-14. PSU did not relinquish control of the lead for the remainder of the frame, closing out the set on a 6-2 run to lock up a 25-16 win to complete the sweep.
Penn State returns to action tomorrow night, welcoming Michigan State to the court in Rec Hall. First serve between the Nittany Lions and the Spartans is set for 5:30 p.m. ET.