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March 15, 2015
LONG BEACH, Calif. - No. 15 Penn State men's volleyball (9-9) captured the Asics Invitational crown with a 3-0 win (25-22, 25-15, 25-19) against tournament host No. 8 Long Beach State (11-9) Saturday evening at Walter Pyramid.
Redshirt junior Taylor Hammond and redshirt sophomore Matt Callaway earned Asics Invitational All-Tournament team honors, while senior Aaron Russell was named the Most Valuable Player.
Russell and sophomore Chris Nugent led the Nittany Lion offense with a double digit kills. Russell had a match-high 19 kills on .414 hitting, adding five digs, three blocks and two aces. Nugent posted 11 kills to go along with four digs and three blocks.
Callaway matched a career-high mark, leading the blocking unit with seven total blocks, including one solo stuff.
Making his first career start, redshirt freshman Jalen Penrose posted nine kills, while also leading the team with eight digs. He added another career-best mark finishing second on the team with four aces.
Hammond paced the team to a .293 hitting percentage, dishing out 39 assists, while also collecting four digs and one block.
Penn State jumped out to a 7-4 advantage for an early lead. The 49ers answered with a kill before a PSU attack error pulled Long Beach State within one 7-6. LBSU continued to chip away at the Penn State lead, using a 5-4 stretch, capped off by two consecutive blocks to tie the score, 11-11. A Nittany Lion attack error put the 49ers on top, 12-11, but Penn State regrouped with a 5-1 streak to build a three-point cushion, 16-13, prompting Long Beach to call a timeout.
A 49er error and a kill from Nugent out of the break widened the Nittany Lion margin to four, 18-14, before back-to-back LBSU blocks trimmed the advantage to two, 18-16. Penn State and Long Beach State traded points out of the break to keep the 49ers within one, 201-9. Redshirt junior Matt Seifert looked to give PSU some room with a kill, 21-19, but LBSU responded with a block to keep it close, 21-20.
The two teams exchanged service errors to make it 22-21, but Long Beach looked to spark a comeback with a kill, tying the score, 22-22. Two kills from Russell and an ace from Penrose quickly secured a 25-22 win in the opening set for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State and Long Beach State opened the second set trading points to keep it close. Trailing by two, 9-7, Russell put down two consecutive kills to knot the frame, 9-9. PSU and LBSU exchanged points two more times to keep the score locked up, 11-11. Rallying, Russell sparked a 9-1 scoring run with a pair of consecutive kills to vault the Nittany Lions ahead by as many as eight, 20-12, forcing the 49ers to call a timeout.
Penrose came out of the break with a kill, but Long Beach State halted the momentum with a kill, 21-14. The Nittany Lions held off a comeback, closing out the second set with a 4-2 strike to seal a 25-15 win for a 2-0 lead in the match.
Penn State shot out to a 6-2 lead in set three before a service error slowed the momentum, 6-3. Long Beach came storming back with a 4-1 streak to tie the score, 7-all. Penn State totaled four in a row helped out by two 49er errors to extend the lead to four, 11-7. LBSU looked to settle into an offensive rhythm with a kill and a block, 11-9, but PSU stayed consistent with a 6-4 stretch to remain on top by four, 17-13.
Long Beach made another attempt to get back on track with a kill, 17-14, but Penn State responded with a 4-2 run capped off by a kill and an ace from Russell to make it 21-16. The 49ers attempted to slow the momentum with a timeout, coming out of the break with a block after a Penn State attack error to move within three, 21-18. Penn State had no trouble down the stretch using a 4-1 run to close out a 25-19 win in the third set to complete the sweep.
Next up, Penn State returns home from the road to host Big Ten opponent Ohio State Saturday, March 21 at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall. The outing is set to be the second meeting between the Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes this season.