PRINCETON, N.J. – The Penn State men's volleyball team ended the 2019 regular season with a straight-set loss to Princeton (19-25, 16-25, 20-25) Saturday night at Princeton's Dillon Gymnasium, the site of the 2019 EIVA Tournament.
The Nittany Lions end the regular season with a 14-14 overall record and a 10-4 mark in conference play, good for third in the conference standings.
Princeton (15-12, 13-1 EIVA) wrapped up its first EIVA regular season title with Friday night's win against Saint Francis and extended its win streak to five matches.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn State trailed by as much as five in the opening frame but slowly worked its way back to trail by one at 18-17 on a Matthew McLaren kill. Princeton quickly rebounded with three points in a row before Canyon Tuman stopped the bleeding with a kill.
The Tigers found three more points to finish the set courtesy of a couple of George Huhman kills and a block.
Princeton had the edge on the service line with four aces against just one error while the Nittany Lions had only one ace versus seven errors in the first frame.
Penn State called on its depth for the second set with Frank Melvin, Sam Marsh, and Henry Payne getting extended looks in the frame. Neither team led by more than two until a four-point Tiger run gave Princeton a 14-10 edge.
After a Payne kill pulled Penn State back within five, Princeton ended the set to take a commanding 2-0 lead with five of the next six points. Despite Princeton coming back to earth from the service line with seven service errors in the set, the Tigers still managed to hit .500 while Penn State mustered only a .190 hitting percentage.
The Nittany Lions staggered the Tigers early in the third by speeding out to a 5-1 lead thanks to a Brett Wildman kill, a Luke Braswell ace, and a block by Calvin Mende and Marsh. Princeton immediately fired back with seven of the next nine points to lead 9-7.
The Tigers extended its lead to five points before a service error and a kill by Mende pulled the Nittany Lions back within three. Princeton was able to hold the Nittany Lions away right around that advantage for the remainder of the set.
Penn State's last kill of the night came from Payne to make it a four-point deficit at 23-19, but a Tiger kill and block wrapped up the match 3-0 for the Tigers.
GAME NOTES
- Brett Wildman led the Nittany Lions in kills for the fourth time this season with 13 kills at a .476 hitting percentage (13-3-21). He finished the regular season with three-straight matches in double-digit kills and 11+ kills in four of the last five.
- Matthew McLaren played in just one set and finished second on the team with six kills on nine swings (.667).
- Henry Payne had four kills at a .222 clip (4-2-9) and a service ace. Sam Marsh started his first match since Feb. 22 at George Mason and finished with a pair of kills.
- Henrik Falck Lauten also played just one set for Penn State while regular starting middle blocker Jason Donorovich also rested for the match.
- Princeton edged the Nittany Lions at the service line and at the net with a 8-4 lead in service aces while having four less service errors (17-13). They also had 9.5 team blocks to Penn State's 2.0.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions will be the #3 seed in the EIVA Tournament coming up next week, April 18-20. Penn State will take on second-seeded George Mason in the first semifinal at 5 p.m., followed by #1 Princeton-#4 St. Francis shortly afterward on Thursday. The championship match will be played Saturday.