UNIVERISTY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's volleyball team continued its great run to begin EIVA conference play with its fifth-straight 3-0 victory, this time to defeat Saint Francis (25-21, 25-10, 25-20) Saturday evening at Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions (10-3) are now the only remaining team unbeaten in EIVA play this season after defeating the Red Flash (7-4). Both teams entered the night 4-0 in league action.
"I think the respect we gave to Saint Francis – because they've beaten the same teams we've beaten in the EIVA – paid off for us big time," said head coach Mark Pavlik. "We played at a very high level all match long."
Penn State sported a very balanced and potent offense that hit .500 as a team for the night, led by senior setter Cole Bogner with 41 assists Brett Wildman had a match-high 13 kills at .524. He was joined by Michael Valenzi who had 11 kills, a .556 hitting percentage, and two aces.
Cal Fisher also had his third double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs. The middle-blocker trio of Toby Ezeonu, Sam Marsh and Canyon Tuman combined for 10 kills without an error.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Red Flash took the first extended lead of the match with a 10-7 advantage in set one, but Fisher and Ezeonu coupled with a SFU error quick erased the lead with a 3-0 run. Penn State added another four-point spurt with a kill from Marsh and an ace by Fisher to grab a 18-14 edge that they wouldn't give up.
Valenzi paced Penn State with four kills in the set, including the set-clinching kill, to give Penn State the 25-20 game one win.
Fisher's serve proved tough for the Red Flash to handle early in the second set as the Nittany Lions scored five points in a row behind his service and had an 8-1 overall rally to begin the set. The early advantage was more than enough for Penn State as they eventually held a double-digit margin for most of the set.
Penn State's offense hummed in the second to a .609 hitting percentage with Fisher and Valenzi combined for nine kills without an error to ease to a 25-10 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match. The set was capped by a great play with Canyon Tuman making a diving dig and Bogner setting Wildman at the left pin all the way from the right side of the court for a big finish.
Wildman took over early in set three with four kills out of Penn State's first six points of the set. The Nittany Lions were great on side-out all night long and that trend was amplified in the third game as Saint Francis had just two multipoint scoring runs in the frame, one of two points at 3-1 and a three-point run with Penn State leading 23-19.
A kill from Wildman, his 13th of the match, set up match point for the Nittany Lions with an eventual service error by the Red Flash giving PSU the 25-20 set three win to complete the sweep.
MIKE ANDERSON MAN OF THE MATCH
Cole Bogner posted 41 assists and led the Nittany Lions to a .500 hitting percentage for the match. He also stuffed the stat sheet with a pair of service aces, two blocks, a dig, and a kill.
MATCH NOTES AND STATS
- Penn State had an 84.6 percent side-out conversion rate for the match to keep Saint Francis from stringing any long rallies in their favor.
- Bogner's 41 assists in the three-set match are tied for the fourth most in the country this season.
- Penn State improves to 10-0 this season when hitting at least .300 as a team. The Nittany Lions' .500 hitting percentage was its best in a single-match this season, much do to a season-low seven hitting errors.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions take the road to take on St. Francis Brooklyn for the first time next Friday, Feb. 25 in Brooklyn. PSU will then head to NJIT the next day, Saturday, Feb. 26, to wrap up the weekend.