AUSTIN, Texas – No. 7 Penn State Men's Volleyball suffered its first loss of the season with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-19) defeat to No. 8 Stanford on Friday at the Austin Convention Center. The match was part of the First Point Collegiate Challenge.
The Nittany Lions dropped to 4-1 on the season, while the Cardinal remained unbeaten at 5-0.
Moses Wagner led Stanford to the win with 15 kills on .423 hitting. Adam Chang helped hold Penn State to .195 hitting with his team-high five blocks and added five kills on seven attacks.
John Kerr paced Penn State with 12 kills. Ryan Merk finished with a team-high seven digs, while Michael Schwob was right behind him with six.
Set 1
Penn State started strong with a 17-14 lead, but Stanford scored six of the next seven points to go up 20-18. A kill by Kerr got the Nittany Lions back within one. The Cardinal followed with back-to-back points and eventually took the set 25-21 on a kill by Alex Rottman.
Set 2
Will Rottman's seven kills on .583 hitting led Stanford to another 25-21 win in the second set. This time the Cardinal didn't need a comeback as they scored the first point and never trailed. The Nittany Lions, who trailed by as much as five in the set, got within two multiple times. The latest was at 23-21 following a kill by Michal Kowal. Stanford responded with back-to-back kills by Will Rottman to end the set.
Set 3
Wagner hit .429 with eight kills to help Stanford close the match with a 25-19 win in set three. The score was close for most of the way before the Cardinal pulled away late. The score was tied eight times and was still just a one-point difference when Penn State pulled within one at 18-17 with a block by Owen Rose. The Cardinal scored the next two points on kills by Will Rottman and Wagner. A kill by Rose made it 20-18, but that's as close as Penn State would get. Nathaniel Gates eventually closed the match with a kill.
Up Next
No. 7 Penn State plays No. 1 UCLA at the Austin Convention Center on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The teams split the two matches they played against each other last season.
