UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 11 Penn State men's volleyball team earned its fourth straight-sets win of the season and kicked off its EIVA schedule with a 3-0 win over Saint Francis Thursday night at Rec Hall.
Penn State (4-1, 1-0 EIVA) had special offensive performances once again from junior opposite Cal Fisher and junior setter Cole Bogner as Penn State out hit the Red Flash (1-7, 0-1 EIVA) .382 to .133 and held a 40-23 edge in team kills.
Fisher hit .591 for the match with 15 kills and added two service aces and six digs. Bogner had his third match in a row with at least 30 assists, posting a season-high 32 on the evening to go with five digs defensively.
Sophomore libero Tim Herget also helped anchor Penn State's defense with a career-best 11 digs.
"We were as crisp in games one and two with our offensive execution as we have been," said head coach Mark Pavlik. "These guys, as we've seen for the last five matches, they just keep pushing."
An early four-point spurt in set one gave Penn State an early 8-4 lead and forced an SFU timeout, but Penn State kept pushing to grow its lead in the set to as high as seven at 20-13 after another four-point run with three fills by Fisher and a Bogner service ace.
Penn State won the opening frame 25-17 with Fisher ripping eight of his 15 kills in the match in the set.
Junior Brett Wildman blasted three service aces in a row combined with a kill by junior middle blocker Sam Marsh and a bad set by SFU to give Penn State the commanding 12-5 lead in game two.
The Nittany Lions didn't let Saint Francis go on any extended runs thanks to their excellent side-out execution in game two with a 93-percent point conversion when the Red Flash served.
Penn State clinched the set on a Wildman kill, winning game two 25-16.
The Red Flash found some life in set three after a few miscues with communication and a couple hitting errors by the Nittany Lions had SFU in front 13-10.
Penn State immediately erased the lead there thanks to kills by freshman Michael Valenzi, junior Canyon Tuman and Wildman plus a Saint Francis error to retake the lead and the Nittany Lions didn't allow SFU to take it back, winning the set 25-19 to clinch the match.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Fisher was named Mike Anderson Man of the Match for the second time this season after his season-high 18-point night.
- Penn State held the edge in nearly every team statistical category: 51.0 points to 29.0, 40 kills to 23, seven aces to three, four team blocks to three, 37 assists to 23, and 34 digs to 23.
- Wildman added nine kills hitting .300 while the middle-blocking duo of Canyon Tuman and Sam Marsh combined for nine more kills and hit .411.
- Redshirt junior libero Will Bantle went 11-11 on serve-receive for the night. Valenzi was also solid passing the ball at 16-17 and pitched in six kills.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions and Red Flash will do battle again this Saturday, Feb. 6, at 1:30 p.m.