IRVINE, Calif. – Penn State men's volleyball is off to its best start in 14 years after improving to 14-1 overall with a 3-0 (25-19, 40-38, 25-20) win at Concordia University Irvine on Saturday. The Nittany Lions won their eighth consecutive match.
The Golden Eagles dropped to 5-12 overall. It was just the second meeting in the all-time series between the teams. The Lions won the only other matchup in 2013.
The 78 points scored between the two teams in the second set were the most in a Penn State match since 2005 when the Lions won by a 40-38 score in the fourth set at Hawaii.
Cole Bogner posted a double-double in the win with 45 assists and 10 digs. He added three kills on his four attacks. Bogner recorded 40 or more assists for the eighth time this season. Just one of those matches went five sets.
Toby Ezeonu, who entered the match leading the nation in hitting percentage, reached 10 kills on .500 hitting. Cal Fisher led the team with 12 kills and hit .381, while Michal Kowal also reached double-digits with 11 kills. Jack Shampine, Brett Wildman, and Owen Rose chipped in with five kills apiece.
Penn State finished with 41 digs and 11 blocks while holding CUI to .061 hitting. Kowal and Ryan Merk had eight digs apiece, while Fisher tallied seven. Rose paced the Lions in blocks with seven.
The Lions did a great job in slowing down the Eagles' star player, Uriel Batista. He entered the match ranking second in the nation in both kills/set and points/set. He managed seven kills and had seven errors on his 39 attacks.
Set 1
Bogner racked up 14 assists to lead Penn State to a 25-19 win in the opening set. Five of them went to Fisher, while four others went to Kowal. Bogner and Kowal each had four digs. The Lions pulled away with a 5-0 run that put them up 16-10. Kowal had four straight points himself during that stretch with three kills and a solo block.
Set 2
Ezeonu and Fisher each had seven kills in the marathon second set. The serve wasn't there for Penn State, but after going down 26-25, the Lions were able to side out on their next 13 chances. They eventually went up 2-0 in the match thanks to a solo stuff by Rose. Despite the close score, CUI had just two chances at set point. Bogner piled up an amazing 22 assists in the set and led the team with six digs. Merk added five digs.
Set 3
Penn State made the third set less dramatic as Shampine took over with five kills on eight swings to help the Lions clinch the match with a 25-20 win. Kowal hit .600 with four kills and added three digs in the set. Rose had four blocks.
Up Next
No. 3 Penn State plays at No. 6 UC Irvine on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. The Anteaters are 10-5 overall following a 3-0 win over No. 10 Stanford on Saturday.
