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Dec. 5, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Fifth-seeded Penn State women's volleyball (31-3) powered past Siena (19-15) in straight sets ( 25-17, 25-10, 25-5) in the first round of the 2014 NCAA tournament Friday evening at Rec Hall.
With the win, the Nittany Lions advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament, taking on Dayton (30-5) Saturday Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Rec Hall. The matchup between Penn State and the Flyers will be the first meeting between the two teams.
Penn State also improves to 85-26 all-time in the tournament, having captured its 25th consecutive straight set win in an NCAA first round match.
Five Nittany Lions recorded at least five kills in the win, led by freshman Haleigh Washington, who hit .9000 with a match-high six total blocks. Redshirt junior Aiyana Whitney followed close behind with eight kills, adding two digs and two blocks.
Senior Nia Grant tallied six kills on 11 perfect swings, while freshman Simone Lee also added six kills. Freshman Ali Frantti rounded out the group with five kills, adding two aces and five digs.
Senior Micha Hancock paced the team to a .415 hitting percentage, dishing 38 assists to go along with five digs and two blocks.
With seven aces on the night, Hancock served her way to the top of the Big Ten single-season record book with 116 aces on the year. Hancock's 116 aces this season breaks the previous conference mark which was set by Minnesota's Sharon Oesterling in 1989.
Penn State jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first set sparked by two aces from Hancock. The Saints answered back with a 3-1 spurt to trim the lead back to three, 9-6. Washington cut off the run with a kill, 10-6, but Siena fired back with two kills in between one from PSU to keep within three, 11-8.
The Nittany Lions regrouped with a 4-0 strike capped off by a block by Grant and Whitney to enter the media timeout ahead, 15-8. Siena came out of the break with a kill, but back-to-back PSU blocks kept Penn State on top, 17-9. The Saint followed with three straight to arrive within five, 17-12, but a 7-4 PSU scoring stretch vaulted the Nittany Lions to set point, 24-17. Hancock quickly closed out a 25-17 win in the first frame with her third ace of the night.
PSU shot out to 7-4 lead in the second set the Saints used a 2-1 burst to move within three, 9-6. Hancock sparked a 10-4 stretch with two consecutive kills to lift the Nittany Lions ahead by as many as 11, 19-8.
The Saints looked to slow the momentum with a timeout, but Lee and Whitney put down two consecutive kills to widen the advantage, 21-8. Siena made one final attempt to get back on track with a 2-1 strike, 22-10, but a kill from Washington followed by two from Lee secured set two, 25-10.
Penn State carried the momentum into the third set, opening the frame on a 7-2 run to force the Saints to call an early timeout. Siena came out of the break with a kill, 7-3, but the Nittany Lions followed with eight unanswered points to go up, 15-4. A service error threatened to slow the momentum, but Penn State cruised to a 25-5 win in set three on a 9-1 streak to complete the sweep.