LEBANON, Ill. – No. 10 Penn State men’s volleyball’s first road trip of the season ended with a second loss as the Nittany Lions fell 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 28-26) to No. 15 McKendree at the Melvin Price Convocation Center. They dropped to 4-2 overall, while the Bearcats upped their record to 4-2 with a fourth-consecutive win.
Jaidyn Bethel hit .333 with eight kills and one ace and Gaige Gabriel hit .364 with six kills and one ace to highlight the individual performances for Penn State. The Nittany Lions hit just .227 as a team. Sean Harvey led the team in kills with 12, while Miller Trubey was right behind him with 11.
Owen Rose had a strong night from the service line as he matched a career-high with three aces. Ryan Merk did his part in the back row with 12 digs and a 23-23 mark on serve receptions.
Sam Hoskin hit .400 with 16 kills and nine digs for McKendree. Rolen Lively hit .667 with 13 kills, three blocks, and two aces.
Set 1
Tyler Tripp’s five kills helped McKendree pick up a 25-20 win in the opening set. Penn State started fast with a 4-0 lead with a run that started with an ace by Trubey and ended with a kill by Trubey. The lead didn’t last long as the Bearcats soon went up 7-6 and then extended it to 11-7. Penn State got as close as one at 12-11 following a kill by Trubey but then trailed by multiple points the rest of the way.
Set 2
Rose had two aces and Gabriel added one to help Penn State tie the match with a 25-19 win in the second set. Bethel led a balanced attack with three kills. The Nittany Lions pulled away early with a 4-0 run to go up 8-3. Rose had a pair of aces during that stretch. They went on to lead by as much as eight multiple times before closing the set with the six-point win after a McKendree service error.
Set 3
It was all offense in the third set as McKendree won 25-22 behind 15 kills on .464 hitting to top Penn State’s 13 kills at a .321 clip. Neither team registered a block in the set. The Nittany Lions were able to tie the score four times but never held a lead in the set. The latest tie came at 17-17 following a kill by Bethel, but McKendree responded with the next two points and never trailed again. Set point was eventually scored on a kill by Bryce Wetjen.
Set 4
The final set featured 11 ties and five lead changes before McKendree closed the match with a 28-26 win. Penn State trailed 20-15 before coming alive with a 4-0 run that included kills by Bethel, Harvey, and Tristan Hassell to get within one. The Nittany Lions later used a 3-0 run to take a 24-23 lead. The run was started with a kill by Harvey, continued with an ace by Bethel and was capped with a block by Harvey and Rose. The Nittany Lions had just the one chance at set point and it resulted in a service error. They stopped McKendree’s first two chances at match point before the Bearcats secured the win with back-to-back kills by Lively and Hoskin.
Career Highs
Jaidyn Bethel – kills (8), aces (1), digs (5)
Miller Trubey – digs (7)
Up Next
No. 10 Penn State welcomes No. 3 Hawaii to Rec Hall for matches on Friday and Saturday. It is Hawaii’s first-ever regular season trip to Happy Valley.