No. 12 Men's Volleyball Picks Up Road Sweep at Sacred HeartNo. 12 Men's Volleyball Picks Up Road Sweep at Sacred Heart
Craig Houtz

No. 12 Men's Volleyball Picks Up Road Sweep at Sacred Heart

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The No. 12 Penn State men's volleyball team put forth a strong offensive showing on the road in a 3-0 sweep of Sacred Heart in EIVA action Saturday evening.
 
Penn State (7-2, 4-1 EIVA) hit .441 as a team, thanks to a combination of solid passing and 34 assists from junior setter Cole Bogner.
 
Junior opposite hitter Cal Fisher had 14 kills hitting .478 (14-3-23) for the Nittany Lions. He also tied redshirt junior libero Will Bantle with a team-best seven digs.
 
The Nittany Lions had four hitters convert at a .400-or-higher rate, with junior Canyon Tuman and freshmen Michael Valenzi and Michal Kowal joining Fisher on that list.
 
In game one, the Nittany Lions scampered to a 9-5 lead on a four-point run highlighted by kills from Fisher and Sam Marsh as well as the duo pairing up for a block.
 
Both teams traded rallies for the next few points until kills by Valenzi and Fisher caused SHU to take a timeout with Penn State leading 18-13.
 
Kowal ended the set on a service ace to give Penn State a 25-16 set win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Fisher set the tone in a dominant second set for Penn State as his service run won seven points in a row to put PSU comfortably in front 15-6. Fisher aced two serves and put the Pioneers out of system on multiple occasions during the spurt.
 
Penn State hit .611 in the set while forcing Sacred Heart into a negative hitting percentage at -.028 to win by an 11-point margin at 25-14.
 
Another mid-set scoring run by Penn State gave the Nittany Lions the advantage it needed to take the third and sweep the match. After the score was tied 11-11, PSU rattled off 11 of the next 13 points, which included a pair of kills for both Valenzi and Kowal, to hold a firm 22-13 edge.
 
Bogner finished the match with a highlight one-handed solo block to win the frame 25-15.
 
GAME NOTES AND STATS

  • Penn State improved to 7-0 on the season when Fisher reaches double-digit kills in a match.
  • The Nittany Lions had 31 digs to SHU's 16, a large reason why Sacred Heart struggled to find an offensive rhythm and ended with more attack errors than kills on the night (-.028 team hitting percentage).
  • Kowal and Valenzi have combined for 47 kills and a .393 hitting percentage in the last three matches, all of which they were in the starting lineup together.
  • Tuman is averaging 4.8 kills in his last five matches.

 
NEXT UP
Penn State runs it back against Sacred Heart Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.