PROVO, Utah – The No. 15 Penn State men's volleyball team dropped its 2020 season opener in straight sets to No. 3 BYU 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-22) Friday night at a packed Smith Fieldhouse.
The Nittany Lions (0-1) held leads in both the first and third sets but couldn't quite fend off rallies from the Cougars (3-0) to win either frame.
Penn State was led by sophomore outside hitter, Brett Wildman, who tallied 11 kills and hit a team-best .421 for the match (11-3-19). Redshirt senior opposite hitter, Calvin Mende, tacked on nine kills, two blocks, five digs, and a service ace for the Nittany Lions.
BYU's Gabi Garcia Fernandez led all hitters with 14 kills while teammate Davide Gardini added 13 kills with a .750 hitting percentage (13-1-16).
HOW IT HAPPENED
The opening set was very close as neither team lead by more than three at any point in the set. With BYU leading 8-6, Penn State scored four-straight points after a Calvin Mende kill, a double-block by Mende and Jason Donorovich, and back-to-back service aces by Canyon Tuman.
Penn State latest lead in the set came halfway through the set a 15-14, but they did tie the set 18-18 on a Henrik Falck Lauten swing. With the Cougars on the verge of winning the set, Cole Bogner put home his second kill of the set to pull Penn State within one at 23-22, but a Gabi Garcia Fernandez kill on BYU's second set point gave the opening set to the Cougars.
The second set was much more tilted in the favor of the Cougars as they sped out to an early 7-4 lead and extended that advantage to as high as 16-8. The Nittany Lions were able to crawl back to as close as five, but BYU held its distance to win the set 25-19.
Penn State hit .435 (13-3-23) in set two, but BYU edged Penn State with a .565 (15-2-23) edge and took advantage of four Penn State service errors in the frame.
The Nittany Lions had a much better start to the third set and took a 6-3 lead after points from Falck Lauten and Mende. BYU rallied back to tie the score at 9-9 after a block and eventually took the lead 11-10 on a Gardini kill.
Penn State retook the lead 12-11 after a Gardini service error but did not hold another advantage from then on out. The Nittany Lions did manage to tie the score six more times in the set, including stringing together a three-point spurt down 20-17 thanks to a Falck Lauten kill and a Donorovich service ace.
It proved to be BYU's night, however, as an ace, Nittany Lion service error, and a block closed the match for the third-ranked Cougars.
HEAR IT FROM THEM
Penn State Head Coach Mark Pavlik
- "The one lesson I wanted our guys to know after this game that this was a great example of how fine a line it is to win each and every night in this game. It really boils down to how long can you execute at your best level through the third touch."
- "I thought we passed extremely well. We need to serve a bit better on our end, but we really passed well tonight."
- "It being our first match of the season, for us to be breaking down the finer details of what we could do better at this stage means that we're right there. Not the outcome we were hoping for by any means, but there are certainly positives to take away from tonight."
GAME NOTES
- Wildman's 11-kill effort was the ninth double-digit kill match of his Nittany Lion career and his sixth straight dating back to the 2019 season. He has hit over .400 in all but one of his last five matches.
- Penn State nearly matched BYU in several team categories with the Cougars holding narrow leads in kills (39-36), blocks (5-4) and digs (22-21). Penn State led in aces, 5-3, but was plagued by 20 service errors.
- In his first game action since going down with an injury late in 2019, redshirt sophomore libero, Will Bantle, led the Nittany Lions with six digs.
- Other notables – Henrik Falck Lauten: eight kills, Canyon Tuman: four kills at .375 (4-1-8), Cole Bogner: 29 assists, four digs, Donorovich: team-best three blocks.
- Penn State and BYU play their rematch Saturday evening at 7 p.m. (ET).