| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Feb. 11, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Penn State men's volleyball (3-7, 1-0) came up short in a close 3-0 (24-26, 22-25, 23-25) loss on the road at No. 12 Ohio State (9-2, 4-0) Wednesday evening at St. John Arena.
Senior Aaron Russell and redshirt senior Nick Goodell led the offense with double digit kills. Russell tallied a team-high 14 kills to go along with four digs and three blocks. Goodell logged 12 kills, adding five digs.
Sophomore Chris Nugent finished third on the team with seven kills and four digs, while redshirt sophomore Matt Callaway chipped in four kills and three blocks.
Redshirt junior Taylor Hammond dished out 33 assists, while also tallying two kills and a career-high five blocks. Redshirt senior Connor Curry anchored the defense with 13 digs, marking his third consecutive double-dig performance.
Penn State and Ohio State opened the match battling point-for-point through most of the first set. Tied at 14-14, an OSU attack error and a PSU block pushed Penn State ahead, 16-14, forcing the Buckeyes to call a timeout. Ohio State came out of the break with a kill, but a block and a kill from Russell pulled Penn State ahead by three, 18-15.
The Buckeyes called a timeout and regrouped out of the break with a pair of kills in between one from Goodell to close the gap to two, 19-17. An OSU service error kept the Nittany Lions on top, 20-17, but Ohio State fired back with a 5-2 stretch to tie the score, 22-22, causing PSU to take a timeout.
Russell fired a kill out of the break in an attempt to spark some momentum, but two consecutive PSU errors made it set point for Ohio State, 24-23. Russell held off the attempt with a kill to keep the score knotted, 24-24, but an OSU block and a kill handed the Buckeyes a 26-24 win in set one.
Much like the first set, PSU and OSU opened set two going back and forth battling for the lead. Tied at 10-10, Penn State used a 2-1 spurt to go up by one, 12-11, but a service error kept the score tied, 12-12. Hammond sparked another 2-1 strike to push the Nittany Lions ahead, 14-13, but Ohio State used a 5-3 stretch to take over a two-point lead, 18-16, prompting Penn State to call a timeout.
The Nittany Lions came out of the huddle with a 4-2 run featuring kills from Russell, Goodell and Nugent to tie the frame, 20-20. Unable to settle into an offensive rhythm, the Buckeyes followed with a 4-1 strike to arrive at set point, 24-21. PSU could not get back on top as another OSU kill gave the Buckeyes set two, 25-22, to send the Nittany Lions into the intermission trailing 2-0 in the match.
PSU and OSU kept it close in the third set, tying the score 11 times before a block by Callaway and Hammond broke open an 11-all score to lift Penn State ahead by one, 12-11.
Unable to generate a scoring streak, the two teams battled to four more tied scores before a block from redshirt freshman Aidan Albrecht and redshirt sophomore Spencer Sauter sent the Nittany Lions back up by one, 17-16. The Buckeyes responded with two consecutive kills before a PSU attack error moved OSU ahead, 19-17, forcing Penn State to call a timeout.
Penn State came out of the break with a kill from Russell, but a quick 3-1 burst from the Buckeyes kept Ohio State in the lead, 22-19. Another kill from Russell and an OSU attack error lifted Penn State within one, 22-21, but a PSU service error and back-to-back Buckeye kills gave Ohio State match point, 24-22. An OSU attack error held off the attempt before another Buckeye kill handed Ohio State a 25-23 win in the third set to end the match.