UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 7 Penn State Men's Volleyball improved to 3-0 on the season with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-17) sweep over visiting Lees-McRae in a non-conference match Thursday night at Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions hit .441 behind 20 assists from Michael Schwob through the first two sets and an additional seven from Luke Snyder in the final set.
Toby Ezeonu just missed his second perfect match of the season, going for nine kills and no errors on 10 swings. He had 10 kills on 10 attacks in a 3-0 win over Central State last week. He added an ace and three blocks in Thursday's win over Lees-McRae.
Penn State received great production in the middle as Owen Rose joined Ezeonu with big numbers. He hit .750 with nine kills, three aces and three blocks. Meanwhile, John Kerr excelled on the right side with nine kills on .571 hitting in addition to two aces and three blocks.
The Nittany Lions racked up 11 aces in the match, including two apiece from Michael Valenzi and Will Kuhns. Matthew Luoma and Toby Ezeonu each had one ace.
Libero Ryan Merk totaled four digs and was lauded by head coach Mark Pavlik for his passing that helped Penn State side out at 88 percent.
Lees-McRae, which was playing in its season opener, was led by Sebastian Heer with seven kills on .545 hitting.
Set 1
Ezeonu had four kills on five swings, and Rose was perfect on his three attacks as Penn State cruised to a 25-13 win in the opening set. The Nittany Lions used a 5-0 run to go up 5-1 early. The two middles led the way during the run as Ezeonu had two kills and a block and Rose recorded a kill and an ace. The lead never dipped below three and eventually reached double-digits at 21-11.
Set 2
Kerr and Rose tacked on four more kills apiece, and Ezeonu had three swings on three attacks in Penn State's 25-17 win in the second set. The Nittany Lions pulled away early with a 5-0 run that put them up 10-4. The run was fueled by a kill and an ace from Ezeonu. The Bobcats only got as close as four the rest of the way.
Set 3
Snyder took over at setter and led Penn State to .375 hitting in a 25-17 win to close out the match. Valenzi, Kerr, Rose and Ezeonu had two kills apiece. A 6-0 run helped the Nittany Lions pull away early with a 12-5 lead. Kuhns served for two aces during the run. Ezeonu went on to score match point with his ninth kill of the match.
Career Highs
Zach Stowe – kills (1)
Up Next
Penn State hosts King University on Saturday at 4 p.m.
