March 4, 2017
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| Rec Hall | University Park, Pa. | 857 |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 15 Penn State (12-7, 6-2) fell in straight sets (20-25, 17-25, 23-25) to No. 8 Stanford (11-7, 6-5) 3-0 Saturday night at Rec Hall in non-conference action to wrap up the Penn State Spring Break Tournament.
Penn State embarked on a late third-set rally to extend the game to a fourth set, but Stanford had other thoughts ending the 12-5 run for the Nittany Lions with a kill from Clay Jones to take the set 25-23 and the match 3-0.
Aidan Albrecht, the Mike Anderson Player of the Match, finished with a team-high 11 kills hitting .381 while adding three service aces and four digs on the night.
Luke Braswell led Penn State in assist with 32 while Royce Clemens and Matthew McLaren joined Albrecht recording four digs.
Down two sets to none and trailing Stanford 17-11, Coach Mark Pavlik inserted Frank Melvin into the game and the rally began.
Penn State scored on two of the next three plays with the latter being a service ace from Albrecht before Pavlik call his second timeout of the set to have a talk with his team.
Following the timeout, Penn State scored on three straight plays, a kill from Jalen Penrose, a Cardinal attack error and a kill from Matt Callaway followed by Stanford electing to take their first timeout of the set.
Back on the court from the timeout, Penn State continued to chisel away at the Stanford lead scoring on eight of the next 12 plays to find themselves within two of the Cardinals off a Stanford attack error.
Penn State would squeeze out one final point on an Albrecht service ace to bring the score to 24-23 in favor of the Cardinals.
Stanford capped the set on the next play as Clay Jones hammered away for the kill ending the epic rally and the match for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions will take a week off before returning to the court to take on Cal-Baptist Mar. 17 in Rec Hall with a match time set for 7 p.m. ET.
For more on Nittany Lion men's volleyball, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateMVBall
