UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The fourth-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team improved to 8-0 at home and 8-0 in the EIVA with a straight-sets win (25-14, 25-17, 25-14) over Charleston Friday evening in Rec Hall's South Gym.
The Nittany Lions (13-3) featured a very balanced offensive attack led by senior Brett Wildman who tallied a match-high 11 kills.
Sophomore Toby Ezeonu tied a single-season high with seven blocks and tallied seven kills without an error.
Five more Nittany Lion hitters recorded multiple kills and PSU tied its season-high with a .500 team hitting percentage.
"We didn't want to take anything for granted," said head coach Mark Pavlik. "We knew Charleston has a couple of live arms and we also knew that if we could keep our serving pressure on them, it would put us in a pretty good position to earn some points easily and I think that's the way the match turned out."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Despite the change of scenery in the Rec Hall south gym, the Nittany Lions still had a hot start in the match that enabled them to take the first set. Penn State had 15 kills spread between six players, including Cal Fisher leading the way with five kills on eight swings with just one error.
Three of those kills came in Penn State's 5-1 run to close the first game, 25-14. Penn State hit .423 to win the set, while the Golden Eagles had the same amount of errors as kills for a .000 hitting percentage.
Penn State wound up hitting even better in the second set at a .545 rate and it once again yielded good results for the home squad. Not only did Penn State attack efficiently, the had balance on the attack with six different players registering between 2-3 kills.
A 6-0 run early in the set erased a 5-4 deficit for the Nittany Lions and turned the score into a 10-5 lead. That run included a solo block from Michael Valenzi and a Wildman ace.
Canyon Tuman and Jack Shampine both entered the lineup in the frame to make an impact, with Tuman collecting three kills and three blocks in the frame and Shampine adding a pair of kills, including the set-clinching point at 25-17 as Penn State led 2-0 in the match.
In set three, the Nittany Lions' team hitting percentage continued to climb despite a bunch of Nittany Lions players seeing the court. Penn State had a .562 mark with just one hitting error in the third game.
Ezeonu had three blocks in the third to finish the match with seven, including back-to-back stuffs alongside Wildman during a big 6-0 run to put Penn State in the drivers' seat leading 21-12.
The Golden Eagles had a pair of attack errors to give Penn State the 24th and 25th points of the game to clinch the match with another 25-14 set win.
MATCH NOTES AND STATS
- The Nittany Lions' eight-match home streak marks the second-straight season Penn State has had at stretch of at least eight wins in Rec Hall. PSU had eight wins at home starting on Feb. 26, 2021 that carried through the 2021 EIVA title match April 24.
- Penn State's eight-match win streak in regular-season EIVA play is tied for its second longest win streak against conference opponents since 2014. PSU also had eight in the 2014 season and an 11-match win streak in 2021, which featured an adjusted EIVA schedule.
- Ezeonu's seven blocks tied a season- and career-high block total.
- Wildman has 12 double-digit kill performances through 16 matches.
- Penn State recorded four service aces and did not allow an ace.
NEXT UP
Penn State takes on traditional Big-Ten rival Ohio State in a home-and-home series next week. PSU travels to Columbus Tuesday, March 8, before hosting the Buckeyes in a "Wear White" match Sunday, March 13, at Rec Hall.