ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – No. 8 Penn State Men’s Volleyball dropped to 0-2 to start the season following another road loss to a nationally-ranked opponent Saturday night. The Nittany Lions were defeated 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-22) by No. 14 Lewis in a non-conference match at Neil Carey Arena.
Will Kuhns put together another great performance for Penn State, finishing with a career-high 13 kills on .500 hitting. That came just one night after he hit .476 with 12 kills in a four-set match against No. 12 Loyola Chicago.
Redshirt freshman Sean Harvey made his first career start for the Nittany Lions and contributed seven kills. Redshirt sophomore Matthew Luoma also had seven kills.
Lewis was led by Daniel Haber with 11 kills on .350 hitting. Oguzhan Oguz hit .412 with eight kills and served for three of the team’s eight aces.
Saturday was the 40th meeting in the all-time series between Penn State and Lewis. The Nittany Lions lead 23-17.
Set 1
Kuhns had six kills in the opening set but Lewis won 25-15 behind four kills from Haber and four blocks as a team. The Flyers scored the first three points of the match and went on to lead by as much as 11. Set point was scored on a block by Max Roquet and Shawn Baggs.
Set 2
Lewis hit .667 compared to .190 for Penn State as the Flyers won the second set 25-15. Roquet had four kills, while Haber and Oguz added three apiece. The score was tied at 8-8 following a kill by Kuhns, but Lewis scored eight of the next 12 points to go up 16-12. The Flyers later closed the set with a 5-0 run, including a kill by Frederick Krueger-Beer for set point.
Set 3
Luoma had four kills on four swings and Kuhns tallied four kills on five attacks, but it still wasn’t enough as Lewis finished the match with a 25-22 win. The Nittany Lions took an 18-16 on a kill by Kuhns, but the Flyers responded with a 4-0 run and led the rest of the way.
Career Highs
Gaige Gabriel – digs (2)
Sean Harvey – kills (7), digs (4), blocks (1)
Blainey Jones – digs (2)
Will Kuhns – kills (13)
Matthew Luoma – kills (7), digs (2)
Up Next
No. 8 Penn State heads to Austin Texas for the First Point Collegiate Challenge, where the Nittany Lions will take on No. 1 UCLA on Friday and No. 13 Stanford on Saturday.