Sept. 30, 2016
By Jack Milewski, GoPSUSports.com Student Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - It was an electric atmosphere inside Rec Hall as No. 16 Penn State fed off the electricity in what was one of the more convincing wins for the Nittany Lions this season, topping the No. 18 Michigan State Spartans in three sets.
Penn State, coming off an unblemished first week of Big Ten play, faced their first ranked opponent since playing then-No. 9 Stanford, the Nittany Lions improved to 9-0 in individual sets across three conference matches.
"I thought the crowd and the energy from them and the band were tremendous tonight," head coach Russ Rose said. "I'm always happy when we win a match."
Behind a dominant performance, the Nittany Lions took down the Spartans, who had just taken top-ranked Nebraska to five sets a week earlier. The Nittany Lions, as they have been all season, were led by Simone Lee who totaled 12 kills to lead all players. However, Ali Frantti, who has struggled with consistency this season, certainly stepped up in this match. Frantti finished second on the team with 10 kills, hitting higher than .300, while also passing well.
"I though [Simone] and [Ali] both played extremely well and I though Ali really passed well tonight for us," Rose said. "I though Simone had a couple good blocks and overall the two of them carried the offense. We set them over 50 percent of the time and that's a lot to ask but for the most part that were up to the task."
Michigan State is well known in the Big Ten for being one of the more imposing teams in terms of physicality and overall height. Still, it was the Nittany Lions who won the physicality battle, using a slew of solo blocks to turn the tide in the second set.
"I think I was on the bench for those blocks, but you could tell that they really fired everyone up," Frantti said. "It's plays like that that can really help you out as a team."
Not only were the Nittany Lions solid at the net, but for the most part they nullified a large Michigan State block with quality spotting of the ball and solid high and hard swings to keep the Spartans off balance.
"Against a team like that you have to swing high and hard," Lee said. "You also have to tip well and hit spots and I thought we did both of those well tonight. You have to give credit to our middles as well for really holding the blocks and freeing up space for us to take swings."
Penn State has started to play a more complete game, led by Frantti and Lee at the helm of the offense in the past two weeks. At 3-0 in Big Ten play, Penn State is off to yet another strong start in the conference. In the beginning of the season, the Nittany Lions found themselves struggling when taking the lead in matches, but now it seems with a 2-0 set lead, Penn State has started to play their best volleyball rather than falling behind.
"I thought for the most part in that third set we were in control and Michigan State looked a little disoriented," Rose said. "When you have a chance to pull away from a team in this conference you have to."
Penn State certainly pulled away and led by Frantti and Lee, put together an overall emphatic victory for the Nittany Lions' first win over a ranked opponent this season. It will be a quick turn around for the Nittany Lions as they are set to face No. 22 Michigan tomorrow at 8 p.m. in Rec Hall.