CHICAGO – No. 8 Penn State Men’s Volleyball dropped it season opener 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21 to No. 12 Loyola Chicago in a non-conference match Friday night at Joseph J. Gentile Arena.
Will Kuhns had a strong showing for the Nittany Lions while making his second-career start. The redshirt senior outside hitter matched his career high of 12 kills while hitting .476 and added five digs, three blocks and one ace. Kuhns was perfect on the attack through the first two sets, totaling eight kills on eight swings.
Miller Trubey’s debut for Penn State came against his old team. He finished with nine kills, five digs, and two blocks. Meanwhile a pair of Nittany Lion veterans did their part. Redshirt junior Owen Rose tallied four kills and six blocks, while redshirt junior Ryan Merk racked up 12 digs.
Loyola Chicago was led by Daniel Fabikovic with 14 kills on .385 hitting and Nicodemus Meyer with nine kills on .750 hitting. The Ramblers won the serving battle with nine aces compared to Penn State’s three.
Set 1
Kuhns had four kills on four attacks, but Loyola Chicago countered with a pair of players that had four kills to take the opening set 25-17. Fabikovic and Parker Van Buren were the two Ramblers players with four kills each. The Ramblers took control early and never let up. They led 17-9 after an ace by Jake Read and went up by nine again at 21-12 after a kill by Van Buren. Set point was scored on a service error.
Set 2
Kuhns again had four kills on four swings but this time Penn State took advantage with a 25-22 win in the second set. Trubey added four kills on .571 hitting, while Michael Schwob totaled 10 assists while guiding the team to .600 hitting. Penn State trailed 13-11 before using a 3-0 run to take a 14-13 lead. The Nittany Lions later led 20-18 before going on another 3-0 run that included a kill and an ace by Matthew Luoma and was capped by a solo block by Trubey. Set point was later scored on a service error.
Set 3
Penn State held Loyola Chicago to .115 hitting in the third set but couldn’t capitalize in a 25-20 loss.
Set 4
Fabikovic had five kills in the fourth set to help Loyola Chicago close the match with a 25-21 win. The Ramblers didn’t pull away until late as they scored four of the final five points to close the set. Match point was scored on a block by Bryce Robbins and Brad Bell.
Career Highs
Gaige Gabriel – kills (2), aces (1), blocks (3)
Sean Harvey – kills (3), digs (1)
Matthew Luoma – kills (6), assists (1), aces (1), digs (1), blocks (3)
Miller Trubey – digs (5)
Up Next
No. 8 Penn State makes the short trip to Romeoville, Illinois to take on No. 14 Lewis on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. The Flyers are 1-0 following a sweep over Maryville on Friday.