| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | #7 Penn State
| 21 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 | | NJIT | 25 | 21 | 20 | 22 | 1 |
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| Penn State Statistical Leaders | | - Kills: C. Nugent - 18 | | - Blocks: M. Callaway -5 | | - Digs: R. Clemens- 11 | | - Aces: C. Nugent- 2 |
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| Stat Comparison | PSU | NJIT | | Kills | 63 | 51 | | Hitting Pct. | .387 | .392 | Assists
| 58 | 51 | | Aces | 4 | 4 | | Digs | 29 | 21 | Blocks
| 7.0 | 10.0 |
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Feb. 20, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 7 Penn State moved to 9-2 on the season and 4-0 in EIVA play Friday night as they hosted NJIT defeating the Highlanders (21-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-22) in Rec Hall.
Chris Nugent led the Nittany Lion offense collecting 18 kills, while Matthew McLaren would follow up adding 10 kills of his own. Taylor Hammond finished with a match high 55assist; Royce Clemens would contribute on the defensive side of the ball totaling a match-high 11 digs to go along with Matt Callaway's 5 total blocks.
"Tonight was a fight that I expected coming in," said head coach Mark Pavlik. "You have Jabarry Goodridge who is a member of the Barbados National team, he can get hot, (TJ) Jurko is as good of a volleyball player as there is in the EIVA, he can hurt you different ways. They were a little bit different team than they were last year, I thought both teams played well in bits and spurts but it seemed like he who streaked last won. When you get into matches like that it's even more important to take care of the ball on your side of the net. I think late in games we did a good job of not giving them the easy points."
NJIT (0-9, 0-1) started the game on a strong note, taking the first set 25-21 over Penn State hitting .667 as a team in the set.
Penn State would see the momentum swing back in their favor during the second set as the Nittany Lions would hold NJIT to a .267 hitting percentage and combining for 4.0 total blocks during the set that saw Penn State even the score at 1-1 following a 25-21 set win.
Tied at one set apiece, Penn State knotted things up at 3-3 early in the set on a Chris Nugent kill from Taylor Hammond sparking a 4-0 run that would for NJIT to call their first timeout of the set trailing Penn State 7-3.
Out of the time out Penn State would extend its lead to 15-10 as a Spencer Sauter queued a second NJIT timeout.
NJIT would battle their way back in to the set closing to within four after trailing by as much as seven (24-17) to force coach Mark Pavlik to call his lone timeout of the third set leading NJIT by four.
Penn State closed out the set on a Matt Callaway kill from Taylor Hammond to take the set 25-20 and hold a 2-1 advantage heading into set four.
The Highlanders showed no sign of rolling over down two sets to one as they would tie the score eight times in the set with the latest tie coming at 22-22 right before a Nugent kill made it 23-22 heading into the NJIT timeout.
The timeout would not be a run starter for the Highlanders who surrendered back-to-back points on Nugent kills as Penn State took the set and the match 22-22 and 3-1, respectively.
Penn State returns to action tomorrow afternoon as they host Princeton in their lone match of the year in south gym at 4 p.m.
The Nittany Lions will return to action Feb. 19 when NJIT comes to University Park for a 7 p.m. first whistle in Rec Hall followed by a Saturday match against Princeton in the lone game of the season in South Gym slated for a 4 p.m. start time.
