UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania – The Penn State men's volleyball team won its second-straight conference match in three-set fashion, taking down Sacred Heart 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-23) Saturday evening in the Rec Hall South Gym to go 2-0 in EIVA play for the weekend.
Penn State moves back to .500 on the season at 6-6 while remaining perfect in conference play at 3-0.
Sacred Heart dropped to 1-6 overall and 0-2 in the EIVA.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- Sacred Heart took an early lead in the first set at 6-3 after an Emerson Waumans kill.
- Jason Donorovich had back-to-back service aces to tie the score 8-8 followed by a Pioneer error to give the Nittany Lions their first lead.
- Another service ace by Donorvich forced a Pioneer timeout at 18-15, but Sacred Heart rattled off three points in a row to retake the lead 19-18.
- After getting a kill to tie the score at 20, Henrik Falck Lauten toed the service line four-straight times to put Penn State ahead by as much as three.
- Donorovich closed the set with his only kill of the frame to clinch the three-point set win for Penn State.
- Set Score: Penn State 25, Sacred Heart 22
- Match Score: Penn State leads 1-0
Second Set
- Penn State took the initial advantage in the second and racked up a three-point edge after a Brett Wildman kill and an error by SHU to lead 10-7.
- Sam Marsh got in on the action for the Nittany Lions with a kill to put PSU ahead 14-9.
- Sacred Heart made a four-point run to pull back within one a 15-14 and eventually tied the score at 18-18 to force Penn State to call timeout.
- The Nittany Lions came out of the timeout and scored three in a row to retake the lead they wouldn't relinquish.
- Set Score: Penn State 25, Sacred Heart 21
- Match Score: Penn State leads 2-0
Third Set
- The majority of the third set was tightly contested as it wasn't until a 12-9 edge by Penn State that a team held more than a two-point lead in the set.
- Matthew McLaren came up with a big service ace to put Penn State ahead 19-16 and his ace was followed by a block from Donorovich and Falck Lauten to give Penn State its largest lead of the set 20-16.
- Sacred head managed to pull back within as close as one, but back-to-back service errors by the Pioneers gave Penn State the final two points it needed to win.
- Penn State's 73% (17-23) sideout percentage in the third set was its highest among all three sets.
- Set Score: Penn State 25, Sacred Heart 23
- Match Score: Penn State wins 3-0
NEXT UP
- Penn State takes to the road for two more EIVA matches against 13th-ranked George Mason and Charleston (W.Va.) Feb 22 and 24.