HONOLULU, Hawaii – No. 19 Penn State racked up 11 blocks and tallied seven aces but struggled to get anything going with its attack in a 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-21) loss to No. 5 USC in a non-conference men’s volleyball match Thursday at the Stan Sheriff Center. The match was the first of three for the Nittany Lions in the Outrigger Invitational hosted by Hawaii.
The Nittany Lions dropped to 5-11 on the season with nine of those losses coming to nationally-ranked teams. The Trojans improved to 14-2 with their fifth-consecutive win.
Penn State’s Gaige Gabriel had a big match defensively with a career-high eight blocks in addition to his seven kills. Matt Cosgrove was in on five blocks. Ryan Merk finished with a team-high five digs while helping hold USC to .231 hitting. The Trojans entered the match with the second-highest hitting percentage (.392) in the country.
Will Kuhns paced Penn State’s attack with eight kills and served for three of the team’s seven aces. Miller Trubey also contributed three aces.
USC was able to hold Penn State to -.035 hitting thanks to 16 blocks as a team and a match-high 10 digs from setter Caleb Blanchette. Genis Guy led the way with six blocks, while Dillon Klein had four in addition to his 10 kills.
Set 1
Cosgrove, Gabriel, and Kuhns had three kills apiece, but it wasn’t enough as USC took the first set 25-20. The Nittany Lions fell behind 18-11 before making a strong comeback attempt. Trailing 19-13, they went on a 5-0 run to get within one point. The run was highlighted by back-to-back triple blocks from Cosgrove, Gabriel, and Matthew Luoma that cut the deficit to two at 19-17. Kuhns followed with an ace to complete the 5-0 run. USC called a timeout and then scored six of the next eight points to get the set win. The final point was scored on an ace by Jack Deuchar.
Set 2
USC picked up where it left off to end the first set with a 7-1 start to the second set and went on to win 25-18. Klein led the way with four kills and one of the team’s two aces. The Trojans had five blocks in the set.
Set 3
Klein added five more kills and another ace to help USC close the match with a 25-21 win in set three. The Trojans again jumped out to a sizable lead before staving off a Penn State comeback attempt. They led 15-10 before the Nittany Lions went on a 3-0 run that included kills by Trubey and Kuhns. They went back up four at 17-13 before the Nittany Lions used a 4-0 run to tie the score at 17-all. Rose capped that run with a score-tying ace. The Trojans called timeout and then went on a 3-0 run. They led the rest of the way before securing the sweep on a Penn State attack error for match point.
Career Highs
Carter Dittman – kills (1)
Gaige Gabriel – blocks (8)
Up Next
No. 19 Penn State continues play in the Outrigger Invitational with a match against No. 3 Hawaii on Saturday at 1 a.m. ET.