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Aug. 27, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- No. 9 Penn State women's volleyball (2-0) powered past Georgia Southern (0-2) in straight sets (25-13, 25-12, 25-7) Saturday morning at Rec Hall.
A total of 16 Nittany Lions saw the court in the win as Clare Powers and Jelena Novakovic made their debuts in the Blue and White.
Penn State used a balanced offense effort led by eight kills from junior Simone Lee. Juniors Ali Frantti and Haleigh Washington finished tied for second on the team with seven kills each. Junior Heidi Thelen added six kills on 10 error-free swings.
Novakovic tallied two kills on three swings in her collegiate debut, while Powers added one kill. Redshirt sophomore Bryanna Weiskircher dished out 26 assists to go along with a team-high eight digs and one block, pacing the team to a .424 hitting clip.
The Nittany Lions out-blocked Georgia Southern 8.0-1.0 led by five blocks from Washington. Thelen finished second on the squad with three, while Frantti and Gorrell added two apiece.
Penn State got out to a fast start, using a 6-2 run to take over an early lead. The Eagles looked to stall the run, connecting on a pair of kills in between one from the Nittany Lions, 7-4. Penn State cut off the attempt with a kill before a Georgia Southern ball handling error widened the Nittany Lion lead to five, 9-4, causing the Eagles to call a timeout.
Georgia Southern followed with a 5-4 stretch in an attempt to keep within four, 13-9. Penn State continued to pull away though, using a 5-1 strike to bolster the advantage to as many as eight, 18-10.
Three Nittany Lion attack errors in between a kill from Thelen brought Georgia Southern within six, 19-13. From there, Penn State settled into another rhythm, closing out the set with six unanswered points featuring three blocks from Washington and Thelen to secure a 25-13 win.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to another hot start in the second set, using a 7-2 streak to force Georgia Southern into an early timeout. The Eagles could not spark any momentum out of the break as Penn State answered with an 11-6 scoring streak, capped off by Lee's third kill of the frame to send the advantage into double figures, 18-7.
Georgia Southern made another attempt to trim deficit with a kill, 18-8, but an Eagle service error sparked a 6-3 run that lifted the Nittany Lions to set point, 24-11. Georgia Southern held off one attempt before Washington slammed a kill to wrap up a 25-12 win in the second set.
Penn State continued its momentum into the third set, opening on a 12-1 run, featuring kills from Frantti, Lee and Reed. Georgia Southern looked to slow the Nittany Lions with a pair of kills in between one from Washington, 12-2. Penn State did not look back though, cruising to a 25-7 win in the third set on a 13-5 run to complete the sweep.
The Nittany Lions return to action later this evening, hosting No. 19 North Carolina at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall.