UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania – The No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball team completed a weekend sweep of Charleston with a second consecutive 3-0 victory over the Golden Eagles at Rec Hall Saturday evening.
Penn State (12-2, 9-1 EIVA) extended its win streak to six matches with the win and maintained its spot atop the EIVA standings. Charleston dropped to 4-6 overall and in the EIVA.
The Nittany Lions hit .519 as a team for the match, led by Brett Wildman with 10 kills without an error to put his hitting percentage at .677 (10-0-15) for the night. Cal Fisher tacked on 11 kills from the right side and aced four serves, bringing his nation-leading season total to 34.
While Penn State had a solid offensive evening, the Golden Eagles also had some good offensive numbers with a .421 hitting percentage and five aces.
"When [Charleston] got on track offensively, I thought they stayed right there with us," said head coach Mark Pavlik. "I thought they had a better opportunity to run their offense tonight than they did yesterday and defensively, I don't think we were as strong when they were swinging at balls.
"That being said, being down when we were down in game three…and to climb back in it and put ourselves in a position to win it in regulation, so to speak, speaks volumes toward these guys and when they focus and they do what they are trained to do, I think they carry that out real well."
Penn State had little trouble taking set one with a nine-point win in the opening frame. The Nittany Lions led from the opening kill on and hit .529 in the set. Fisher led the way with five kills in the frame and Penn State was helped by 11 total hitting and service errors by the Golden Eagles to win 25-16.
Charleston's offense started to click more in the second game with 16 kills at a .560 rate and that allowed the Golden Eagles to lead 15-13 in the second. The Nittany Lions immediately countered with three points in a row on a Michal Kowal kill and back-to-back aces by Fisher to take the lead 16-15.
Wildman sparked another run with two of his four kills in the set followed by a point from Sam Marsh to lead 21-17. Charleston battled back by holding off three set points for PSU, but Kowal closed the game with another kill to take set two, 25-23.
Charleston came out hot in set three with a 5-1 edge and stretched its lead to as much as five at both 15-10 and 18-13 in the set. Penn State dug deep to earn a few service points back and eventually tied the set at 22-all.
Charleston retook the lead with the next point, but a three-point run clinched the match for Penn State with two kills from Fisher highlighting the final streak for the Nittany Lions.
MATCH NOTES AND STATS
- Penn State's .519 hitting percentage is its best team hitting percentage of the season and the first time they've hit .500 or better as a team since their 3-0 win over UCLA Jan. 24, 2020.
- Wildman has now reached double-digit kills in five-straight matches. His .667 hitting percentage is a single-match career best.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions head to Saint Francis next weekend for a pair of matches March 12, 13.