UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 7 Penn State men's volleyball team took its second-straight loss Saturday evening in a 3-0 defeat (25-22, 25-22, 26-24) to Ohio State at Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions (4-4) had another tough go offensively with .267 team hitting percentage while Ohio State (8-1) hit .427 for the match.
PSU was led by Brett Wildman with 13 kills at a .323 clip (13-3-31) and three service aces. Ohio State's Reese Devilbiss led all scorers with 18.5 points after posting 15 kills hitting .560 (15-1-25) and four blocks.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Nittany Lions didn't have their best offensive frame in the first set that put them into a hole. PSU had to take timeouts trailing 15-12 and 20-15 in the set. PSU managed to pull within as close as two at 24-22, but the Buckeyes took the next point to win the set by three.
Penn State had a .231 hitting percentage with six hitting errors compared to Ohio State's .444 team hitting percentage in the first set.
Ohio State continued their momentum into the second set by speeding out to a 9-4 advantage and forcing another Penn State timeout.
Penn State pulled back within two points on Bobby Wilden's serve with Brett Wildman recording two kills in the four-point run to make it 15-13, but the Buckeyes never let Penn State get closer than two for the rest of the game, taking the set by an identical 25-22 score.
The third game was tight throughout with 13 tied scores. Ohio State looked to be running away with the third game when it scored three points in a row to take a 17-14 lead, including an ace from Reese Devilbiss.
The Nittany Lions wouldn't back down, however, as they managed a four point spurt on Calvin Mende's service rally, which included an ace, to tie the score 20-20.
The Buckeyes managed to score three of the next four of the next six points to set up match point, but Penn State had a three-point run that included kills from Wildman and Donorovich to fend off three-straight match points.
Ohio State countered with the next two points after PSU tied it 24-24 to take the match, finished with a kill by Devilbiss.
HEAR IT FROM THEM
Head Coach Mark Pavlik
- It's a weekend where we were very inconsistent in just about every aspect of our game, from serving and passing to attacking. When we played well, we played well. I liked our compete level today better than I liked it yesterday. I just thought we kept coming back. Certainly game three showed that, but in opportune moments, we broke down with things that we normally do really well. We had a couple of hitting errors in situations where we controlled their swaying or got a free ball and didn't convert on those easy opportunities."
Sophomore Brett Wildman
- "I think the word from this weekend that we need to take away is 'consistency.' Our best volleyball was when they didn't know what to do with what we were putting out there. We would kind of put ourselves in tough situations and then play hard, good volleyball and get back into the game. We would fall back onto those inconsistent patterns, so the word [to learn] is just 'consistent' from this weekend."
MIKE ANDERSON MAN OF THE MATCH
Brett Wildman's 16.0 effort made him Penn State's selection for the Mike Anderson Man of the Match. He now has six-straight matches with double-digit kills and has reached at least nine kills in all eight matches this season.
GAME NOTES
- Calvin Mende was Penn State's next best offensive contributor with 10 kills, marking the fifth match this season the redshirt senior has reached double digits.
- Jason Donorovich was a force in the second and third sets with seven of his eight kills coming in those two games. He hit .500 (8-2-12) to lead the Nittany Lions for the match.
- Bobby Wilden pitched in eight kills hitting .400 (8-2-12). He has at least eight kills in five of his last six starts. He also led the Nittany Lions with nine digs.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions head to Columbus for two neutral site matches against opponents from the Big West. PSU takes on Long Beach State Friday, Feb. 7 before playing UC Santa Barbara Saturday, Feb. 8.