AMHERST, N.Y. – Penn State posted its fifth-consecutive sweep with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-22) win over Daemen in the National Collegiate Championship Opening Round on Friday night at Lumsden Gymnasium. The Nittany Lions improved to 15-15, while the Wildcats, the champions out of the NEC, exited their first NC Championship appearance with an overall record of 15-13.
Penn State advances to the eight-team portion of the NC Championship as the seventh seed and will play second-seeded Hawaii on Thursday at Ohio State’s Covelli Center. That will be the location for the remainder of the championship event.
Matthew Luoma paced Penn State’s attack, hitting .345 with 14 kills in addition to three aces, three digs, and one block. The Nittany Lions hit .380 behind 30 assists from Michael Schwob, who joined Luoma with three aces of his own. It was the sixth-straight match that Schwob served for exactly three aces.
Owen Rose had an efficient night in the middle with six kills on .750 hitting. Carter Dittman also hit at a high clip, totaling five kills with a .455 percentage. Will Kuhns added six kills, while Gaige Gabriel chipped in with three.
Penn State libero Ryan Merk led all players with nine digs. Dittman and Kuhns contributed five apiece.
Daemen was led by Billy Wieberg with 12 kills on .308 hitting, while Zach Schneider, nephew of Penn State men’s volleyball alum Byron Schneider, hit .316 with nine kills. The Wildcats hit .301, which was the highest allowed by the Nittany Lions in their four postseason matches this season.
Set 1
Schwob tallied 12 assists while leading Penn State to .333 hitting in a 25-23 win in the opening set. Luoma led the way with six kills, Dittman contributed three, and Rose had two on two swings. Despite the close final score, the Nittany Lions never trailed after going up 3-1 with an early 3-0 run. The teams traded points from 17-17 all the way to 21-21. Penn State then went up 23-21 with a kill by Luoma and an ace by Schwob. The Wildcats scored the next two points to knot the score at 23-all. The Nittany Lions responded with a kill by Luoma and then took the set on a Daemen attack error.
Set 2
Schwob served for two more aces and led Penn State to .381 hitting in a 25-21 win in the second set. The Nittany Lions used a 3-0 run to go up 15-10 after Kuhns sandwiched a pair of kills around an ace by Schwob. They had their largest lead of the set at 17-11 after an ace by Kuhns and again at 18-12 following a Daemen service error. The Wildcats clawed their way back to tie the score at 21-all only to watch as the Nittany Lions closed the set with a 4-0 run. Luoma started the run with a kill and added another one after a Schwob ace. The set again ended on a Daemen attack error.
Set 3
Penn State hit .435 while closing the match with a 25-22 win in the third set. Luoma led the way with four kills on .571 hitting and had two of the team’s three aces. The Nittany Lions scored the first point on a block by Kuhns and Rose, and never trailed the rest of the way. They led by as much as six at 18-12 after going on a 3-0 run. Dittman started the run with a kill, which was followed by a pair of aces from Luoma. The Wildcats got as close as one at 21-20 and again at 22-21. Following a Daemen attack error, a Luoma kill made it 24-21. Daemen stopped the first chance at match point, but Penn State followed with a kill by Rose to get the sweep.
Career Highs
Matthew Luoma – aces (3)
Up Next
Penn State’s quarterfinal matchup against Hawaii is scheduled for Thursday at 1:30 p.m. It will mark the seventh postseason match all-time between the Nittany Lions and Rainbow Warriors.