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Aug. 27, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- No. 9 Penn State women's volleyball (2-1) fell short in 3-2 (25-16, 22-25, 25-21, 23-25, 9-15) loss to No. 19 North Carolina (3-0) Saturday evening at Rec Hall.
Despite the outcome, Penn State saw four Nittany Lions reach double figure kills, led by a career-high 23 kills from junior Simone Lee. She also added 10 digs for her first career double-double.
Juniors Ali Frantti, Haleigh Washington and Heidi Thelen all added 11 kills. Frantti had 12 digs for her first double-double of the season. Thelen led the team with a .450 hitting percentage (11-2-20), while Washington led the team with five total blocks.
Freshman Kendall White recorded a career-high mark with 17 digs. Both White and Lee earned spots on the Penn State Classic All-Tournament Team.
Redshirt sophomore Bryanna Weiskircher passed out 28 assists, after coming in to replace junior Abby Detering, who finished with 23 assists.
With the score tied early, 3-3 Penn State used a 5-0 fun featuring two kills from both Frantti and Lee to take over a five-point lead, 8-3. The Nittany Lions came out of the break with two more kills from Lee and another from Gorrell to widen the advantage to as many as eight, 11-3.
North Carolina answered back with a 4-2 stretch to trim the gap to six, 13-7. Penn State earned an opportunity off a UNC service error, 13-6, but could not find momentum as the Tarheels continued to match the Nittany Lions point-for-point to remain with six, 17-11.
Penn State rebounded with a 4-1 stretch to make it 20-11, but the two teams continued to trade points until Penn State reached set point, 24-15 off a kill from Frantti. North Carolina held off one attempt before another Frantti kill secured a 25-16 win in the first set.
The Nittany Lions and the Tarheels battled back and forth throughout the first half of the second set, tying the score four times.
Trailing by two, 17-15, Penn State called a timeout to regroup. The Tarheels came out of the break with a service error before a block from Thelen and Gorrell tied the score, 17-17. Two more North Carolina attack errors quickly put Penn State back in front by two, 19-17, causing UNC to call a timeout. North Carolina came storming back with three unanswered points, but Penn State followed with a kill and an ace from Lee to pull ahead, 21-20, forcing another UNC timeout.
The Nittany Lions looked to continue momentum out of the break following a Tarheel attack error, but Penn State failed to sustain the momentum as UNC rattled off the next five consecutive points to take set two, 25-22, evening the match at 1-1.
Trailing by four in the third set, 5-1, kills from Washington and Lee sparked a 5-2 run that pushed the Nittany Lions within one, 7-6. Penn State continued to fight point-for-point, using a 2-1 spurt to tie the score, 8-8. Penn State and North Carolina continued to trade points tying the frame three more times, 11-11, until a kill from Washington and an ace from Rivera lifted PSU ahead, 13-11.
From there, the Nittany Lions managed to maintain at least a two point edge, until a pair of late Tarheel kills brought UNC within two for the final time at 23-21. Penn State responded with a kill from Lee before a North Carolina ball handling error gave the Nittany Lions a 25-21 win in the third set to put PSU on top, 2-1.
The Tarheels jumped out to another 5-1 lead in the fourth set. A UNC service error opened a 4-1 streak that lifted Penn State ahead by one, 6-5. Unable to maintain the advantage, PSU and UNC traded points to tie the score, 8-8. UNC looked to pull away with a kill and a block, 10-8, but PSU followed with a 5-2 streak to maintain a one-point lead, 13-12. North Carolina followed with a kill to tie the score, 13-13, but Penn State put together a 7-3 run to expand the advantage to four, 20-16.
North Carolina looked to cut off the run with a kill, 20-17, but Penn State used another 3-1 strike capped off by kills from Thelen and Frantti to make it 23-18. Unable to sustain the momentum, things quickly turned for the Nittany Lions as the Tarheels charged back with seven unanswered points to force a fifth and deciding set.
Down by two, 4-2 early in the fifth frame, a UNC attack error and a kill from Lee tied the score at 4-4. UNC responded with a 7-3 scoring streak to pull ahead, 11-7, forcing Penn State to call a timeout. The Nittany Lions came out of the break with back-to-back blocks to arrive within two, 11-9. Penn State once again could not continue to its offensive rhythm, as North Carolina used a 4-0 run to secure a 15-9 win in the final set to end the match.
Penn State hits the road next week traveling to Boulder, Colorado for the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge. The Nittany Lions will square off against Colorado Saturday, Sept. 3 before meeting No. 11 Stanford Sunday, Sept. 4. Both matches will broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network.