| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
April 10, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 7 Penn State men's volleyball (14-9, 8-0) rallied from a 2-1 deficit to top Harvard (11-10, 5-4) in five sets (25-20, 20-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-10) Friday evening at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lion victory stretches the PSU winning streak to 10 in a row, including a perfect mark in EIVA conference play.
Three Nittany Lions recorded double figure kills in the win, led by senior Aaron Russell, who tallied a match-high 26 kills on .333 hitting. In addition to his seventh 20-plus kill outing, he added three aces and four digs.
Redshirt freshman Jalen Penrose finished second on the team with 16 kills and five digs, while sophomore Chris Nugent finished third with 12 kills and six digs.
Defensively, seven different Nittany Lions contributed at least four digs. Redshirt senior Connor Curry anchored the group with 19 digs, while redshirt junior Taylor Hammond finished second with nine. Redshirt junior Matt Seifert led the blocking unit with three total blocks, including two solo stuffs.
Tied up early in the opening set, 4-4, Nugent and Russell put down back-to-back kills to spark a 5-2 run that pulled the Nittany Lions ahead by three, 9-6. Harvard looked to cut off the run with a kill, 9-7, but PSU followed with a 3-1 spurt to remain on top by three, 12-9. The Crimson came charging back with a 6-1 run to take over a two-point lead, 15-13, forcing Penn State to call a timeout.
Penn State regrouped with a 4-1 strike to jump back on top, 17-16, prompting Harvard to call a timeout. The Crimson made one final attempt to get back on track with a 2-1 burst, 18-18, but PSU responded with a 6-1 run to arrive at set point, 24-19. A Penn State attack error held off the attempt, 24-20, but Penrose pounded on final kill to secure a 25-20 win in the first set.
With the score knotted at 6-6 in set two, the Crimson took off on a 4-0 run to go up by as many as four, 10-6, forcing the Nittany Lions to call a timeout. Penn State and Harvard continued to trade points, but the Crimson remained ahead by five, 15-10. Penrose and Russell opened up a 5-2 run with back-to-back kills that lifted PSU within two, 17-15. Harvard quickly responded with a 2-1 strike to go back by four, 20-16.
Rallying, Russell and Nugent pounded three unanswered kills to trim the deficit to one, 20-19. The Nittany Lions were unable to sustain the moment as Harvard followed with a 5-1 run to win set two 25-20, tying the match 1-1 at the intermission.
Clinging to a slim one-point lead in set three, 11-10, Harvard stormed ahead with five unanswered points to pull ahead by four, 15-11. Chipping away at the lead, Penn State used a 5-2 run to arrive within one, 17-16. Harvard looked to pull away with a quick 2-1 burst, 19-17, but the Nittany Lions followed with three unanswered points to take over a one-point lead, 20-19.
Two PSU errors moved the Crimson back on top, 21-20, but a kill from Nugent and a Harvard attack error pulled Penn State back up, 22-21. With Penn State unable to keep the offensive momentum alive, the Crimson used a 5-2 run to close out a 26-24 win in the third set to go up 2-1.
Penn State trailed for most of the fourth frame. Down 17-12, Penn State used a 7-2 scoring streak to tie the score, 19-19. The Crimson looked to cut off the run with a kill, 20-19, but the Nittany Lions battled back with five unanswered points, capped off by a clutch ace from Zack Parik to make it set point, 24-20. Harvard held off just one attempt before Russell pounded his 20th kill of the night to secure a 25-21 win in the fourth to tie the match, 2-2.
Penn State shot out to an 8-1 start in the fifth frame powered by four kills from Russell. Harvard answered back with a 3-1 strike to trim the advantage to five, 9-4, but Russell pounded another kill to make it 10-4. The Nittany Lions did not let the lead dip below four points for the remainder of the decisive set at PSU closed out a 15-10 win in the stanza to win the match, 3-2.
Next up, Penn State hosts Sacred Heart in a mid-afternoon matchup set for 4 p.m. Saturday, April 11 at Rec Hall. PSU will also honor graduating seniors Aaron Russell, Connor Curry and Nick Goodell in a special ceremony prematch.