LORETTO, Pa. – The No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball team made quick work of EIVA foe, Saint Francis, with a straight-sets victory 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-16) on the road Tuesday evening at SFU's DeGol Arena.
The Nittany Lions (9-6, 5-0) have won five-straight matches all in league play and picked up their second 3-0 sweep in a row in Tuesday night's win.
Penn State had both its offense and defense in solid form with a .357 team hitting percentage while pinning down the Red Flash (4-10, 1-4 EIVA) to just a .029 rate, the lowest against the Nittany Lions in 2020.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first set was the most competitive of the match with both teams with five lead changes early on, but the sixth lead change put the score in Penn State's favor after a three-point run, making it 13-12 Nittany Lions.
Penn State never allowed another lead change in the game from that point on. With Henrik Falck Lauten at the service line leading 17-15, Penn State pulled the margin to six thanks to an ace and kill from Falck Lauten. The Nittany Lions finished the set on a 10-2 run to lead 1-0.
The second game was all Nittany Lions as PSU sped out to a quick 8-2 lead after a Jason Donorovich service ace. A block by Falck Lauten and Sam Marsh put the Nittany Lions ahead 10-3 and forced an early Saint Francis timeout.
SFU closed the margin to as few as five at 15-10 before a four-point Penn State run put an end to any shot of a comeback for the Red Flash. Falck Lauten had a pair of kills and Donorovich tacked on another ace during the run that forced SFU's second timeout. Penn State ended up taking the set by 12.
Another strong start in game three put Penn State in strong position to earn the three-game win. Cal Fisher had a kill followed by a Red Flash error for PSU to lead 10-5.
SFU crawled back within two points at three occasions, with the latest being 17-15, but Penn State clinched the match with a seven-point spurt and eight of the next nine points to finish the match. Donorovich had two blocks, including one solo, in the match-ending run.
HEAR IT FROM THEM
Head Coach Mark Pavlik
- "I thought our serving really asserted itself in that first set to go on that first run and from there we really used our serve to our advantage for runs when we needed them in the second and third games."
- "For us to come off that New England trip and look as fresh as we did was a really nice thing to see. A lot of our guys had some good jump tonight and that's a credit to them recovering very well."
NOTABLE STATS
- Henrik Falck Lauten led the Nittany Lions with 11 kills for his second match of the season with double-digit kills. He also hit a season-best .529 (11-2-17) with two aces while posting a perfect serve-receive rate at 16-16.
- Jason Donorovich had a 10.5-point match with five kills, three aces, and three total blocks including a pair of the solo variety. He did not have an error while hitting .455 (5-0-11).
- Will Bantle had nine digs and was 14-15 on serve receive.
- Penn State had a clear edge from the service line with seven aces to SFU's one while holding a 7.5-1 in team blocks.
NEXT UP
Penn State will play its fourth and fifth league matches in seven days with its home series against George Mason and Charleston Friday and Saturday, Feb. 28-29, at Rec Hall. Friday's match will be in the Main Gym with Saturday's contest set for the South Gym, both starting at 7 p.m.