UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball team continued its hot streak with a third-straight win over a higher-ranked opponent after a 3-0 sweep (25-22, 29-27, 26-24) of sixth-ranked UCLA Friday evening at Rec Hall.
The win marked Penn State's first at home at Rec Hall in the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge. Penn State (3-2) was outstanding offensively hitting .500 (44-7-74) as a team for the match.
UCLA dropped to 3-2 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn State was excellent to start its match thanks to an offensive onslaught in the first game. The Nittany Lions hit .552 (17-1-26) in the first set. Bobby Wilden had six kills hitting .667 (6-0-9) in the frame to lead Penn State.
Calvin Mende was also effective opposite of him on the right side with five kills and an ace. He notched a kill and then went on a three-point serving run that gave Penn State the early advantage in the set.
UCLA tied the set 13-13, but Penn State quickly ran off three points in a row to retake the lead it never gave back up.
UCLA came out firing in the second set with three points and held a 21-17 lead late in the frame, but Penn State battled back to tie the score at 23-all thanks to a service ace from Jason Donorovich and kills from Calvin Mende and Brett Wildman.
The Bruins ended up having three set-point chances in the game, but Penn State preserved and flipped service back in its favor, fitting ending the set on another Donorovich ace to win 29-27.
Another extra-point set came in the third set as Penn State once again stood strong against a late surge from UCLA. The Nittany Lions led 16-12, but a 7-3 UCLA run tied the game at 19-all.
Both teams traded points from there until Penn State's second-set point at 25-24 when the Nittany Lions watched UCLA's attack sail wide to end the match.
HEAR IT FROM THEM
Head Coach Mark Pavlik
- "This match was a great way to open the season for us. Anytime you get a chance to be on the court with the Bruins, you're going to face some adversity, you're going to face some physicality and you're going to face a team that knows how to play the game well.
- "I thought that as each game wore on, our guys had opportunities to put pressure on them at critical points in the game, especially with our serves. I think that worked very well in our favor. I also think that we fought off some very good serving from them during those crucial times."
Senior Opposite Calvin Mende
- "I think we just fell into a rhythm, you know, the first set goes by, you put a few kills on the board. Cole [Bogner] starts feeling out how the sets are going and we all just kind of fall into a rhythm. Yeah, I don't think it was anything special. I think the passes were on and the middles were up which kind of gave us a lot of opportunities on the pins. It was definitely a team effort that lead to that."
MIKE ANDERSON MAN OF THE MATCH
Sophomore setter Cole Bogner was the recipient of the first edition of the Mike Anderson Man of the Match award for his performance in leading the Nittany Lions' hitters. He had 38 assists and allowed PSU's point scorers to swing .500 for the match.
GAME NOTES
- The Nittany Lions defeated UCLA for the first time since 2008 and ended an eight-match losing streak to the Bruins with the win.
- Redshirt senior opposite hitter Calvin Mende led Penn State with 15 kills and 17.5 points. He hit .591 (15-2-22) and had a pair of service aces in the win.
- Redshirt junior Bobby Wilden also continued his strong play with 11 kills at a .625 clip (11-1-16).
- Sophomore Brett Wildman also added 12 kills while efficiently hitting .450 (12-3-20). He also had a game-high seven digs.
- Jason Donorovich tied a personal match high with four service aces.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions finish the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge Sunday afternoon against USC at 4:00 p.m.