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Sept. 10, 2016
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- No. 17 Penn State women's volleyball (5-3) swept past Syracuse (1-6) in straight sets (25-22, 25-17, 25-12) to capture the Syracuse Classic title Saturday evening at the Women's Building.
Junior Simone Lee led the Nittany Lions with a match-high 18 kills for her sixth consecutive double figure kill performance. Junior Heidi Thelen logged her second double figure kill outing of the season, posting 10 kills on .562 hitting, while also adding two blocks.
Penn State out-dug the Orange 56-38, led by six Nittany Lions with at least five digs. Freshman Kendall White led the team with 12 digs.
Junior Abby Detering dished out 39 assists to go along with 11 digs for her second double-double of the day. Sophomore Keeton Holcomb added nine while junior Ali Frantti had eight. Junior Lainy Pierce registered a career-high six digs.
Redshirt freshman Tori Gorrell anchored the blocking unit with seven total blocks.
Penn State and Syracuse kept it close in the early part of the first set. Trailing by one, 10-9, Lee sparked a 3-0 spurt with a kill to bring the Nittany Lions ahead by two, 12-10. The Orange answered with a pair of kills to tie the score again, 12-12. PSU and SU continued to trade points, 14-14, until a pair of Orange errors gave the Nittany Lions a two-point edge, 16-14. Looking to regroup, Syracuse called timeout.
Penn State came out of the break with a 5-2 run featuring a pair of kills from Lee to pull ahead by five, 21-16, prompting the Orange to call timeout. Syracuse came out of the break with back-to-back kills before a Nittany Lion attack error brought the Orange within one, 21-19, causing Penn State to call a timeout.
Penn State came out of the timeout with a 2-1 spurt to widen the margin to three, 23-20, but Syracuse followed with consecutive kills to arrive within one, 23-22. A Syracuse service error out of a Penn State timeout gave the Nittany Lions set point, 24-22. White followed with an ace to close out a 25-22 win in the first set.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 7-3 start in the second set, capped off by a block from Thelen and Gorrell to prompt the Orange to call a timeout. Penn State followed with a 4-2 stretch to widen the advantage to six, 11-5. Syracuse came storming back, using a 6-2 scoring streak to narrow the gap to three, 13-10. Penn State halted the run, using a 5-2 run to build the advantage back to six, 18-12.
A Nittany Lion net violation and an Orange block made it 18-14, but Penn State regrouped with kills from Lee and Frantti, sparking a 4-1 strike that made it 22-15. Syracuse looked to get back on track with a block following a Penn State service error, 22-17, but Washington, Detering and Frantti wrapped up a 25-17 win in the second set with three consecutive kills.
Penn State moved out to an 11-6 start in the third set, led by kills from three different Nittany Lions. The Orange called timeout looking to break up the streak, but Penn State followed with four unanswered points to bolster the advantage to as many as nine, 15-6. Syracuse called its final timeout of the frame and looked for an opportunity off a PSU service error out of the break, 15-7.
The Nittany Lions did not let the Orange any closer than nine as Penn State surged to a 25-12 win in the third set to complete the sweep.
Penn State returns home next week to close out the non-conference slate hosting the Penn State Invitational. The Nittany Lions are set to welcome Rhode Island Friday, Sept. 16 for a 7 p.m. matchup, before hosting Howard at 10 a.m. and Clemson at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17 in Rec Hall.