UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 11 Penn State men's volleyball team picked up a strong conference win with a 3-1 win over NJIT Saturday afternoon in Rec Hall's south gym.
Penn State (6-1, 3-0 EIVA) held a strong advantage for the match from the service line with 12 aces to NJIT's one and extended its winning streak to five matches in a row.
Junior opposite hitter Cal Fisher had another great game with 13 kills and a career-best seven service aces, a mark just two aces shy of Penn State's match record set by Jalen Penrose in 2018 (rally scoring) and John Wasielewski in 1990 (side-out scoring). Fisher also had a team-best eight digs.
Freshman outside hitter Michal Kowal stepped into the starting lineup and was named the Mike Anderson Man of the Match after a 14-kill match hitting .571 (14-2-21) and going 21-21 on serve receive.
Fellow freshman outside Michael Valenzi also had a solid match with nine kills, a .400 hitting percentage, six digs, and 18-19 on serve receive.
NJIT (2-3, 2-1 EIVA) hitters Alvaro Gimeno and Julian Meissner combined for 31 kills and 33.0 points for the Highlanders.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Kowal gave the Nittany Lions the first extended lead of the match with back-to-back kills to put PSU in the lead 10-7 and force an NJIT timeout. Shortly after, Penn State used a service run by junior Canyon Tuman to build its lead 16-9, a run that included a kill by Valenzi and a block assist with Valenzi and junior Sam Marsh.
The Highlanders never got a chance to make a run back because of Penn State's great side-out percentage of 88-percent in the game (16-18). Valenzi put down another kill at set point, 25-17, to give the Nittany Lions an initial 1-0 lead in the match.
NJIT got hot in the second set and hit .652 with just one attack error as a team. Alvaro and Meissner led the charge with 11 kills between the pair. The Highlanders also had four team blocks while not getting blocked at all by the Nittany Lions in the set to take the frame 25-21 and tie the match.
Penn State's service game really played a factor in set three, starting with three service aces by Fisher on a five-point Nittany Lion run to start, forcing an NJIT timeout at 5-0.
Marsh joined the party with an ace followed by another from Fisher later in the set to build Penn State's lead to 14-8, but the Nittany Lions continued to pressure NJIT's defense with kills from Kowal and junior setter Cole Bogner to double the Highlanders' score 16-8.
Kowal ripped his fourth kill of the set to clinch the frame for Penn State and confirmed a .522 team hitting percentage for the Nittany Lions in the game (13-1-23).
In the fourth set, it was once again Fisher's left-handed serve that put the Highlanders on their heels and gave Penn State the initial cushion. Back-to-back aces by Fisher forced another NJIT timeout with Penn State leading 12-8.
NJIT did pull the score within one at 17-16 before Fisher stopped the bleeding with a kill, immediately followed by a Valenzi ace to give Penn State breathing room once again.
Tuman put the Nittany Lions at match point with his eighth kill of the night and an NJIT error a couple points later clinched the match for the Blue and White with a 25-21 set-four victory.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Fisher's seven aces is the most in the four-set match this season by any player in the country and the second-most in a match of any length. Lindenwood's Diego Negron had eight aces in a three-set match for the Lions.
- Fisher now has a .708 aces per set average, which would place him fourth in the country in that category according to the NCAA leaders list coming into today.
- Kowal's 14 kills are the most by a Penn State freshman since current junior Brett Wildman ripped 24 kills in the EIVA Championship match against Princeton April 20, 2019.
- Redshirt junior libero Will Bantle was 17-17 on serve receive with three digs.
- The middle blocker duo of Tuman and Marsh combined to hit .524 with 13 kills and four blocks.
NEXT UP
Penn State and NJIT will face off against tomorrow, Sunday Feb. 14, at 3 p.m. in Rec Hall's main gym.