AMES, Iowa – No. 6 Penn State finished up play at the Cyclone Invitational with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-16) win over LSU on Saturday at Iowa State's Hilton Coliseum. The Nittany Lions head back to State College with a perfect 5-0 record and five sweeps to open the season.
It was the second win of the weekend for Penn State, which swept host Iowa State on Friday night. The Nittany Lions have now won titles at the Penn State Classic and the Cyclone Invitational this season.
LSU saw its record dip to 2-2 and will play its final match of the tournament against Iowa State on Sunday.
Sophomore Jonni Parker finished with 11 kills to reach double-digits for the second time on the weekend. She hit .391 while adding five digs and one ace. Sophomore Kaitlyn Hord had another big match with eight kills on .438 hitting and five blocks. She is hitting .582 on the season. Allyson Cathey chipped in with nine kills.
Sophomore Serena Gray still has the top hitting percentage on the team at .653 with 49 kills and just two errors on 72 attacks. Six of those kills came against LSU while committing zero errors on nine attacks for a .667 hitting percentage.
The Lions were efficient once again, hitting .427 while holding the Tigers to a .060 clip. That is about par with the team's .432 mark on the season.
Penn State has allowed a team to reach 20 points in a set just one time this season.
Sophomore Gabby Blossom nearly had the team's first double-double of the year, tallying 35 assists and nine digs. Senior Kendall White had 13 digs, giving her double digits for the fourth consecutive match. Senior Keeton Holcomb added six digs, giving her an average of 6.5 for the tournament.
Taylor Bannister paced LSU with nine kills. Karli Rose was the team's most efficient player, recording five kills on six attacks while also contributing 13 assists.
Freshman Lauren Clark showed a glimpse of her potential with a nice run during the second set. She had three blocks over the final 10 points, teaming with Hord twice and Gray once.
Penn State controlled most of the match apart from the first half of the second set. LSU led 12-9 before the Nittany Lions scored five of the next six points to take the lead for good. Senior Tori Gorrell had a block and a kill during that stretch, while sophomore Jenna Hampton set up a couple of plays with a pair of assists.
Gorrell was perfect on her first five attacks with five kills and finished with seven on .500 hitting for the match.
The Nittany Lions have an exciting but challenge weekend ahead of them as they host No. 1 Stanford and No. 9 Oregon for the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge at Rec Hall on Sept. 13-14. No. 8 Minnesota will also be at the event to take on the two nationally-ranked Pac 12 teams.
