UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball team extended its win streak to six-straight matches with a third consecutive sweep in its 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-16) victory over No. 15 George Mason Saturday evening at Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions (10-6, 6-0 EIVA) remain perfect in league play with the win and have won 18 of their last 21 sets during the winning surge.
It was also the first regular season win for PSU over George Mason (8-7, 3-3 EIVA) since April 7, 2018 (3-2).
HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn State only trailed once in the first game after the very first point went to George Mason. The Nittany Lions used four different three-point runs to build its lead as high at 18-9 in the set.
George Mason made a push back within four after a four-point spurt to make it 22-18, but after a timeout, the Nittany Lions rattled off three of the last five points to seal the game, with Jason Donorovich finishing the frame with a kill and a service ace.
Another steady dose of point scoring from the Nittany Lions to begin the second game built the margin up to four for PSU at 10-6 after a Brett Wildman kill.
Penn State never trailed in the set and put together a run with a pair of points from Wildman and Donorovich and a service ace from Luke Braswell to lead 19-14. Despite the Patriots hitting .355 as a team in the game, Penn State countered with its best percentage (.441) for a set in the match to cruise to a 25-20 win.
In the third set, the Nittany Lions scored six point in a row, which included four-straight blocks, all involving Sam Marsh, to take command 11-4 in the set.
Penn State followed up with another five-point skein that included a pair of Cal Fisher kills to extend its lead to eight at 17-9. Fisher posted seven of his 16 kills in the last game to help the Nittany Lions win the game by nine.
HEAR IT FROM THEM
Head Coach Mark Pavlik
- "I think over the course of certainly the last couple weekends, we're starting to settle in with some pretty patient play. I think the segments of the game are starting to complement each other. When we hit stretches when our serving isn't as effective, our offense keeps siding out so we don't lost points to them or we stay in the lead and then when our serving gets going, our blocking gave us the separation off of some pretty good serving where they weren't aces, but we made them pretty predictable."
- "Defensively, we're playing a pretty good game. We are tracking balls down and I think that we are becoming a team that is kind of hard to play against because no matter what you do these guys are ready and prepared. This team is a very cerebral team to begin with and I think sometimes you can get teams like that that over-analyze. I think that we've hit the right mix of guys that analyze and act that don't get caught up in being frozen by trying to get too much data."
Redshirt senior Jason Donorovich
- On the team's confidence: "We're pretty confident. I think we had a nice little hot streak earlier in the season and the difference between now and then, I think we were cocky. That was right before we went into Ball State and Ohio State, but now I think we are confident and we just have kind of like a trust going into practice we just know what we want to get done, what we want to accomplish. It is just going to translate right into the matches and that's what's been happening the past couple matches. We're just playing really well together because we are practicing really well together so it's all just working out for us, I guess."
- On his serving success: " I was feeling really good. Against Saint Francis too, something was just clicking with my serve. I mean, it's a serve that I changed going into last year and so I've had like a year or so working on this serve and I guess now things are finally starting to click with me. Just like the breathing techniques that we have going on back there. And yeah, it's just feeling really good right now so I just hope that stays the way it is. When you've got pin guys hitting .500, .400, .467 I'm okay with not having to hit the ball as much because they're doing their job so I'll go back and serve the ball, sure!"
Sophomore Cal Fisher
- Q: Cal, the baseball analogy is someone's on a hot streak. When a baseball looks like a beach ball coming towards home plate. How's it looking for you right now? You have been on a hot streak for the past few games.
- A: "Yeah, I like that one. Cole has just been laying them right up there for me so it makes my job a lot easier. Our defense has been spectacular. They're making great plays and getting everything in system, keeping us in our routine and that helps. Everything helps."
NOTABLE STATS
- Penn State's domination at the service line continued with eight service aces while only allowing one ace for GMU on the Patriots' 45 serves. Jason Donorovich set a new career-high with five service aces.
- Cal Fisher led the way offensively for Penn State for the third time in the last four matches with a game-high 16 kills at a .467 (16-2-30) rate.
- Brett Wildman and Henrik Falck Lauten also had great performances as the pair combined for 20 kills versus just two errors. Falck Lauten hit .500 or better for the second-straight match (9-1-16) while Wildman hit .400 (11-1-25).
- The Nittany Lions dominated at the point of attack with 10.0 team blocks to GMU's 5.5. Sam Marsh led the Nittany Lions with eight, a new single-match best for the sophomore.
- Cole Bogner's 33 assists marked the eight time in the last nine matches he has reached the 30-assist mark. He also had six digs, finishing just behind Will Bantle (7) for the team lead.
NEXT UP
Penn State hosts Charleston in the South Gym Saturday night to finish its seven-match stretch of EIVA games. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.