No. 7 Penn State men’s volleyball (4-0) swept King (0-2) Saturday afternoon at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions were dominant and left no set to chance, as King didn’t record 20 points once throughout the match.

How It Happened

Penn State began the match serving and took advantage of the fact. The Nittany Lions won the first two points of the game before King’s Warren Davis notched a kill. With help from Michael Valenzi and Toby Ezeonu, Penn State took the following two points before King got another point back.

The trend of Penn State winning two points and giving up one repeated thrice more. Ezeonu and Michal Kowal led the way for the Nittany Lions, as they slowly increased their lead over the Tornado. Two more kills by John Kerr and Owen Rose helped boost Penn State to a 13-5 lead amid a 3-0 scoring run that forced King to call a timeout.

The timeout helped King, as it took three of the next four points. King and Penn State traded blows, as Penn State’s lead largely remained intact. An ace from Kerr gave the Nittany Lions a 17-9 lead as they tried to close the first set quickly. King tried to keep the set tight and answered Penn State often, but it wasn’t able to close the gap as the first set ended 25-16.

King took the first point of the second set on a kill by Kellan Kennedy, though a service error from King paved the way for Penn State to take the next three points. After Kellan notched another kill, Penn State took another three points by way of kills from Ezeonu and Valenzi. After that, Penn State and King traded blows before the Nittany Lions went on another three-point run to make the score 10-4.

A service error from Ezeonu gave King a point back before it took another with an ace from Colton Bueter. The following six points went back and forth between the two teams, as Penn State couldn’t pull away and held a 13-10 lead. Service errors hampered the Nittany Lions, as mistakes allowed King to keep that three-point deficit as a three-point deficit.

Still, Penn State wasn’t giving up its lead. As the end of the set neared, Ezeonu, Rose, and Kerr all pushed Penn State to a 20-16 lead that forced King to call a timeout.

Coming out of the bread, King took the first point from a service error before Penn State recorded kills on the next two. Leading 22-16, Rose gave up a service error before Ezeonu notched another kill. Kellan recorded a kill for King before Ezeonu’s kill and an attack error from A.J. Drooker gave Penn State the second set 25-19.

King took the first point of the third set from an attack error by Rose. Penn State took the next three points before King tried to retake the lead. King took three of the next five points, bringing the score to 6-5 for Penn State.

After Penn State took a point back, King tied the set 7-7 after two errors by Penn State. Davis gave up another error before Kerr notched a kill. King got another point back, but a Penn State kill and King error gave Penn State an 11-8 lead.

Both teams traded points over the next several serves, but Penn State was able to slightly expand its lead. With the score 15-11 after a service error by Kolten Soon, King called a timeout.

King took the first point out of the timeout, but four points later, Penn State had an 18-13 lead. Penn State and King went blow for blow with each other, but the Nittany Lions began to pull away. When Rose notched an ace to make the score 22-15, King called another timeout.

King took the first points out of the break, but that was all it got. One Penn State kill and two errors by King sealed the deal as the Nittany Lions won the third set 25-16.

Takeaways

• If nothing else, Penn State was consistent in the win. It didn’t go on any big runs, it seemed to take things one serve at a time and let the points add up into a sweep.
• Per usual, Kerr was a star for Penn State. His 15 kills were the best in the match, as were his 17 points. While his three errors were tied for the most on the team, he was a key cog in Penn State’s machine.

What’s Next?

Penn State heads down to Austin, Texas, for a pair of games against Stanford and UCLA. The first match against Stanford begins at 7:30 on Friday, January 19.