BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y. – The fourth-ranked Penn State men's volleyball remained unbeaten in EIVA play with another 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-14, 27-25) on the road against St. Francis Brooklyn Friday evening.
Penn State (11-3, 6-0 EIVA) not only extended their winning streak to seven in a row, including six in the EIVA, but they have won 18-straight sets to start conference play.
Toby Ezeonu led the way offensively for Penn State with another errorless performance on the attack. He recorded 12 kills without an error on 16 swings to complete the night hitting .750. He also had a pair of blocks (one solo) to finish with 13.5 points.
Cal Fisher added 10 kills and four service aces and tied Brett Wildman for the team lead with five digs. Wildman tacked on eight kills and an ace.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Nittany Lions got off to a hot start in the first set with an offense that rolled at a .409 hitting percentage for the frame. Ezeonu and Fisher combined for three kills and a block assist to quickly build a four-point edge at 7-3.
Fisher added a kill and Cole Bogner and Sam Marsh teamed up for a big block in another Nittany Lion run in the middle of the set that forced an SFB timeout with PSU ahead 14-8.
The Terriers only came as close as four before a won challenge by Penn State sent Fisher to the service line. He ripped back-to-back aces and put the Nittany Lions on the doorstep to win the set. A SFB service error clinched a 25-18 set win for Penn State.
Penn State's offensive improved even more after a good showing in game one with a .474 hitting percentage in game two. The two pin hitters, Fisher and Wildman, and middle-blocking tandem, Ezeonu and Marsh, combined for 10 kills without an error in the game.
It wasn't one or two big runs by the Nittany Lions that allowed them to pick up a big 25-14 set-two win, but rather several smaller 2-4 point spurts that added up quickly. Michal Kowal and Wildman each scored a kill plus another set of back-to-back aces by Fisher late in the second to Penn State to its 2-0 match lead.
The third set was the closest of the match as it featured 23 tied scores and five lead changes. In the battle of attrition between both squads, one player stood out as the go-to option for Penn State. Ezeonu recorded six of his kills in the third game to allow Penn State to continue to side-out points and keep the score tied and close.
A big swing by Ezeonu set up a Penn State match point at 25-24. When the Terriers fended that off, Ezeonu came back with a solo block to set up another match point where an SFB error won the game for the Nittnay Lions.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- This was the second time this season Ezeonu tallied double-digit kills without an error this season. The other was Ezeonu's legendary 16-kill performance at Long Beach State Jan. 29.
- Sam Marsh also had an errorless night with four kills on seven swings.
- Penn State improves to 11-0 this season when hitting .300-or-better as a team.
- Penn State was 37-38 on serve receive for the match, including a 17-17 performance by Wildman.
- With four service aces, Fisher now has 121 career service aces, which ranks fifth all-time at Penn State and just five behind tying Carlos Guerra (2000-03) for fourth all time.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions head to Newark to take on NJIT Saturday, Feb. 26, to round out their weekend road trip.