UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Gaige Gabriel hit .571 with 10 kills, four blocks, one ace, and a dig to lead No. 13 Penn State to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-14) sweep over St. Thomas Aquinas in a non-conference men’s volleyball match Thursday at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions improved to 3-0 on the season while the Spartans dropped to 1-3.
It was a balanced attack from Penn State, which had four players finish with six or more kills while using two setters. Jaxon Herr started and played the first two sets, finishing with 26 assists while guiding the team to .440 hitting. Michael Schwob played the final set and tallied nine assists as the Nittany Lions hit .438.
Sean Harvey followed Gabriel with nine kills while hitting .615. Harvey had a strong night at the service line with three aces to go along with his five blocks and three digs. Owen Rose was perfect on the attack with six kills on six swings in addition to his one block, while Mathew Luoma added eight kills with two aces and two blocks.
Thursday marked the first-ever meeting between Penn State and St. Thomas Aquinas.
Set 1
Rose was perfect with four kills on four swings to lead Penn State to a 25-19 win in set one. Neither team could gain an early advantage in the set until the Nittany Lions rattled off a 3-0 scoring run to push the score to 11-8. They kept things rolling with efficiency, hitting .304 behind 12 assists from Herr. The Nittany Lions generated two more 3-0 scoring runs to push their lead to six, 19-13. That six-point lead held strong the rest of the way as Harvey helped close out the set with two kills in the final four points. He totaled four kills in the set on .500 hitting.
Set 2
Herr led Penn State to .556 hitting with his 14 assists to help Penn State capture the second set, 25-20. The Nittany Lions jumped out to an11-7 advantage behind Luoma’s three early kills. St. Thomas Aquinas battled back to get within one numerous times, including as late as 17-16, but was never able to get the tying point as Penn State was able to side out at 85 percent. The Nittany Lions used a 3-0 run that was fueled by kills from Luoma and Rose to pull away at 23-18. They later scored set point on a kill by Luoma.
Set 3
Harvey tallied three out of the four Penn State aces in the set to secure the win with a 25-14 score. St. Thomas Aquinas scored the first two points of the set only to see Penn State respond with a 5-0 run that included two aces and a kill by Harvey. The Nittany Lions went on to lead by as much as 11 numerous times, including the final score as the match ended with a service error.
Mike Anderson Man of the Match
Gaige Gabriel - 10 kills, .571 hitting, 4 blocks, 1 ace, 1 dig
Career Highs
Sean Harvey – aces (3)
Tristan Hassell – kills (2)
Up Next
No. 13 Penn State continues its homestand as it hosts No. 9 Lewis on Saturday at 7 p.m.