COLUMBUS, Ohio – The ninth-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team engaged in another fierce nonconference battle Saturday afternoon, falling to third-ranked UC Santa Barbara in five sets (25-19, 25-23, 15-25, 19-25, 9-15) at the Covelli Center on Ohio State's campus.
The Nittany Lions (4-6) stormed out to a 2-0 game lead, but the Gauchos (8-2) proved their rank with a straight-set comeback to hand Penn State its fourth loss in a row.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first half of set number one didn't see either side take more than a one-point lead until the Nittany lions rattled off three straight points to lead 13-11 after a solo block from Cole Bogner. Bogner came up big point later on a service ace to extend Penn State's lead to four at 18-14 and forced a UCSB timeout.
The Nittany Lions held the lead from there and ended the first game on a 3-0 run thanks to a UCSB service error, Henrik Falck Lauten kill, and Brett Wildman service ace, winning the set 25-19.
PSU began the second game hot with a four-point lead at 6-2 on a Sam Marsh and Cole Bogner block. The Gauchos managed to pull back within two at 11-9, but Penn State got another block from Marsh and Wildman to lead 16-12 and force a UCSB timeout.
UCSB gradually built it way back into contention for the set and took the lead late, 23-22, but then Cal Fisher took over. He picked up a kill to tie the set and then proceeded to ace his next two serves to clinch the set for Penn State and put the Nittany Lions up 2-0 in the match.
The Gauchos dominated the third set to win the frame by 10 points. They hit .583 in the frame without an attack error while Penn State countered with a .241 hitting percentage and five errors.
The Nittany Lions did not seem bothered by the big loss the set before as they scored four in a row to begin the fourth game. UCSB fought its way back to tie the score 11-11 and the teams battled right with each other from there until the Gauchos found their rhythm again. A 4-0 run put UCSB ahead 21-17 and the Gauchos wouldn't look back, winning the set 25-19.
Another great start for PSU in the fifth and deciding game was spearheaded by Fisher at the service line, who had two aces and another pair of great serves leading to Penn State points to give the Nittany Lions a 4-0 edge early.
That lead soon went away as UCSB went on an impressive 7-1 run from there to lead 8-5. Penn State pulled back within two points twice in the set, but the Gauchos' momentum proved to be just a bit too much as they won the fifth frame 15-9.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Cal Fisher started his first match since the second game of the season at BYU Jan. 11 and put together an solid all-around outing. He had 11 kills, a personal-best five service aces versus just two serving errors, nine digs, and went 18-18 on serve receive.
- Brett Wildman led Penn State again in the kill category with 14. That's eight matches in a row with double-digit kills for Wildman. He also had a team high 17.0 points when adding his two aces and two blocks.
- Henrik Falck Lauten tallied 12 kills and nine digs while hitting .333 (12-4-24).
- Sam Marsh earned his second-straight start in the middle and set new personal best for the second night in a row with nine kills while adding three blocks.
- Cole Bogner was two digs shy of his second-straight double-double with 47 assists and eight digs.
- After hitting .458 (13-2-24) in the first game, the Nittany Lions hit .132, .241, .162, and .000 in the following sets.
- Penn State had a 9-4 edge in service aces. UCSB had 12.0 blocks to PSU's 9.0.
NEXT UP
Penn State returns to Rec Hall to being conference play Feb. 14-15 against Princeton and NJIT. The Princeton match will be played in the main gym Friday at 7 p.m. while the NJIT matchup Saturday will be in the south gym, also at 7 p.m.
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