| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Final | #10 Penn State
| 23 | 25 | 18 | 25 | 8 | 2 | | #5 UCLA | 25 | 22 | 25 | 21 | 15 | 3 |
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| Penn State Statistical Leaders | | - Kills: J. Penrose - 17 - .081 (17-14-37) | | - Blocks: M. Callaway -2 | | - Digs: R. Clemens- 8 | | - Aces: Four tied - 1 |
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| Stat Comparison | PSU | UCLA | | Kills | 49 | 54 | | Hitting Pct. | .149 | .268 | Assists
| 48 | 50 | | Aces | 5 | 7 | | Digs | 23 | 26 | Blocks
| 10.5 | 16.5 |
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Jan. 8, 2016
Final Stats | Photo Gallery
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball battled No. 5 UCLA in a five-set thriller before falling 3-2 (25-23, 25-22, 25-18, 25-21, 15-8) in the final game of the PAC-12/Big Ten Challenge at Rec Hall Friday night.
Jalen Penrose, once again as he did against USC, led the Nittany Lions in kills notching a game-high 17 followed closely by Chris Nugent who recorded 14 kills of his own while hitting .417 for the night.
Taylor Hammond and Zack Parik would combine for 46 assist against the Bruins, while Matt Seifert contributed on the front row with two solo and five assisted blocks.
The Nittany Lions and the Bruins battled through 25 ties and 14 lead changes over the course of the five-set match, with six ties and three lead changes coming in the final set.
"I liked the way we competed," said head coach Mark Pavlik. "As the match went on I felt like the team that served best last in the sets was going to win that set and that's exactly what happened. A lot of good things happened, and the good thing about the bad things that happened is we still have a lot of time to work on them."
Following an initial 1-1 tie to start the first set, the Bruins would go on a 6-2 run capped by a service ace from UCLA's, and Pennsylvania native, Mitch Stahl to give UCLA a 7-3 lead forcing Penn State to call the first time out of the match.
Following the timeout by Coach Pavlik, the Nittany Lions would get to within two of UCLA on a kill by Lee Smith, from Chris Nugent, to trail the Bruins 12-15 as head coach John Speraw called timeout to cap a 9-7 run by Penn State.
The Nittany Lions would tie the set five times before arriving at a 20-20 game following a kill from Jalen Penrose from Taylor Hammond. UCLA would then take the first set with a kill from Stahl, ending the set on a 5-3 run.
Penn State would tie the game up at one set apiece (1-1) following a second set that featured five ties and saw the Nittany Lions down by as much as six points twice throughout the 47 point set.
Set three would see Penn State tie things up at 3-3 early on before UCLA ran away from the Nittany Lions hitting .545 for the set winning the battle in digs (10-6) and team blocks (4.5-1.0).
Down two sets to one, the Nittany Lions would start slow being down by as much as five at one point before embarking on a 7-2 run to tie it up at 12-12. Following the initial tie, there would be three more with the final tie coming at 19 points apiece following an attack error by UCLA.
Off the attack error Matt Seifert would push the run to 8-2 with a kill from Zack Parik forcing UCLA to call a timeout.
Penn State would close out the fourth set on a 4-2 spree to force a fifth set in the final game of the PAC-12/Big Ten Challenge. UCLA would hit -.094 as a team recording only seven kills while committing 10 attacking errors during the fourth set.
UCLA and Penn State would trade point-for-point through the first 12 points to find themselves tied at six apiece. UCLA would cap the set and game on a kill from Michael Fisher ending the game on a 9-2 run to win the match 3-2, giving the PAC-12 the tournament win going 2-2 on the weekend while the Big Ten finished at 1-3 following the two-day tournament.
Next up, Penn State travels to Chicago for a match up against defending NCAA champions No. 3 Loyola (Jan. 14) followed by a trip to Romeoville, Ill to face the No. 8 Lewis Flyers (Jan. 16) with both games having a first whistle set for 7 p.m.
Penn State men's volleyball is on Facebook and Twitter! Fans can follow the Nittany Lions @PennStateMVBALL or online at www.facebook.com/PennStateMensVolleyball.
