UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania – The No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 win over Charleston in EIVA action Friday night in Rec Hall's South Gym.
Penn State (11-2, 8-1 EIVA) won game one 25-20, followed by strong 11-point win in set two before closing out the match by coming from behind in set three to win 25-21.
A 14.5-point effort from Brett Wildman paced the Nittany Lions to its fifth-straight win. The junior had 10 kills and four service aces while also having an effective defensive night with nine digs.
Cal Fisher had a team-high 11 kills and hit .471. and setter Cole Bogner paced the Nittany Lions to a .343 hitting percentage for the match.
A pair of Charleston (4-5, 4-5 EIVA) errors in the first set allowed Penn State to take an 11-7 lead and the Nittany Lions held that advantage for the remainder of the set. The Golden Eagles pulled within one at 17-16, but a Valenzi kill helped Penn State steady itself and win seven of the next 11 points to win game one.
The Nittany Lions used a 7-0 run early in set two to take a commanding lead behind Wildman's serve. He had all four of his service aces during the spurt to put Penn State comfortably in front 14-5 before Charleston finally scored to end the run.
Six of Penn State's seven aces on the night came in the second set and the Nittany Lions made just one hitting error (7-1-17, .353) to take the second frame 25-14.
Charleston provided its strongest resistance early in the third set as it built a quick four-point lead at 8-4. The Nittany Lions began whittling away at the advantage and eventually took the lead 14-13 after back-to-back kills from Fisher.
Fisher ended up with seven of his 11 kills in the final frame, the last of which completed a three-point streak to give the Nittany Lions match point at 24-18. UC fended off three points in a row, but the fourth match point was clinched on a Marsh kill.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Brett Wildman now has double-digit points in four-straight matches. His four aces ties a career high for a single match.
- Penn State was perfect on serve-receive as a team with Wildman (11-11), Valenzi (13-13) and Will Bantle (10-10) not letting a serve hit the floor.
- Cole Bogner's recent streak of quality setting is evident in Penn State's team hitting percentage. The Nittany Lions have hit .325 or better as a team in four of their last five matches and six of their nine EIVA matches.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions and Golden Eagles play again tomorrow evening at 7 p.m.