LOS ANGELES – Penn State and USC had its last two matches against each other go five sets in length. Late Friday night, the Nittany Lions came up on the short end of another five-set battle (18-25, 26-24, 13-25, 25-23, 13-15) on the Trojans home court in the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge.
Penn State drops to 8-9 overall while the Trojans picked up their 10th win to move to 10-7.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- The Nittany Lions trailed 9-7 in the first set before Jason Donorovich and Matthew McLaren tied the score with a kill and an ace.
- USC slowly built its lead to four at 15-11 and rattled off three more points in a row to lead by seven.
- The closest Penn State got to USC late in the set was six points at 24-18, but the Trojans won the set on a Nittany Lion service errors.
- Set Score: USC 25-18
- Match Score: USC 1-0
Second Set
- The second set was closely contested for the first several points with neither team leading by more than two until USC's Ryan Moss scored a kill to give the Trojans an 18-15 lead.
- The Trojans led 20-16 after service ace, but then the Nittany Lions started their surge. A triple block by Luke Braswell, Canyon Tuman, and Henrik Falck Lauten pulled Penn State within two.
- Falck Lauten and Brett Wildman each finished a pair of points to cap a 6-2 run and tied the second at 22.
- With the score tied 24-24, an attack error from USC allowed Penn State to serve for set point, and Tuman delivered with an ace to win the set.
- Set Score: Penn State 26-24
- Match Score: Match Tied 1-1
Third Set
- USC was clicking on all cylinders in the third set and didn't allow the Nittany Lions much chance to fight back.
- The Trojans hit .846 (11-0-13) while the Nittany Lions hit .000 with seven attacking errors.
- Set Score: USC 25-13
- Match Score: USC 2-1
Fourth Set
- The Nittany Lions got out to an early lead in the fourth thanks to kills by Donorovich, Falck Lauten, and Wildman.
- USC managed to work its way back to a 6-6 tie.
- Neither team would lead by more than one until a service ace by Wildman followed by a USC error gave Penn State a 19-17 edge.
- The Trojans pulled back within one on Penn State's first set point, but Braswell set up Donorovich for the game-clinching point to set the match to a fifth set.
- Set Score: Penn State 25-23
- Match Score: Match Tied 1-1
Fifth Set
- Both teams traded two points apiece on several occasions to swing the lead back and forth in the fifth frame.
- Falck Lauten put the Nittany Lions ahead 9-8 with a service ace, but USC fired back with two in a row to lead 10-9.
- A McLaren kill tied the set at 12-12, but another two-point spurt for USC set the Trojans up for match point.
- Falck Lauten delayed the Trojan's winning point with a kill, but a service error by McLaren ended the match for the Nittany Lions.
- Set Score: USC 15-13
- Final Score: USC Wins 3-2
STAT STANDOUTS
- Despite not starting the game, Brett Wildman led the way offensively for the Nittany Lions with a season-best 16 kills. Wildman also had 33 attacks to set another season high while hitting .212 (16-9-33).
- Henrik Falck Lauten added another double-digit kill effort to his season with 14 kills at a .345 clip (14-4-29).
- Jason Donorovich had nine kills without an error and hit above .500 (.529, 9-0-17), for the sixth time this season.
- Luke Braswell recorded his second-straight match with 40+ assists with 45 in tonight's match. In his last three matches against USC, Braswell has 167 assists in 15 sets, good for an 11.13 assist/set average.
- USC had three players in double figure kills, led by Ryan Moss who had 23 while hitting .513 (23-3-39).
NEXT UP
- The Nittany Lions face off with #5 UCLA tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT to conclude their Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge.