No. 8 Penn State men’s volleyball (7-2) swept No. 15 Ball State (8-6, 1-0 MIVA) 3-0 Friday night. The Nittany Lions continued their momentum after defeating No. 1 Ohio State twice last week.  

After two competitive sets, the Cardinals couldn’t recover from Penn State’s offensive onslaught. The Nittany Lions hit .433 along with racking up six aces and double-digit kills from Michael Valenzi, Michal Kowal, and John Kerr.

How It Happened

Ball State struck first by scoring off two Penn State attack errors, but Kowal tallied the first kill of the night immediately after. Kowal committed a service error to give the Cardinals an early 3-1 lead. Braydon Savitski-Lynde then scored Ball State’s first kill of the match.

Four errors by Ball State started a 6-2 run for the Nittany Lions where Kowal and Toby Ezeonu each notched a kill. Tinaishe Ndavazocheva struck back for the Cardinals, but Kerr retaliated for the Nittany Lions. Both teams then exchanged kills for the next three scores as Penn State led 10-9.

Ball State took a 12-10 lead shortly after with the help of two Penn State errors and a Ndavazocheva kill. However, Valenzi ended the Cardinals’ short run with a kill. Kills by Valenzi, Kerr, and Ezeonu gave Penn State the 15-14 lead at the first media timeout.

Out of the break, neither team pulled away by more than one point. Ball State scored off two Penn State errors, and then Penn State scored off a Cardinal service error and an Ezeonu ace. Ezeonu then committed a service error shortly after to tie the set at 17-17.

Patrick Rogers tallied a kill for Ball State after a long review overturned a Penn State point and earned head coach Mark Pavlik a yellow card. Penn State proceeded to go on a 4-0 run with kills by Owen Rose and Kerr that was capped by a Ball State timeout at 21-18 Penn State.

After the timeout, Ball State scored three straight times to tie the first set at 21-21 as Pavlik called Penn State’s first timeout. Penn State then scored off a service error, but Ndavazocheva struck back for the Cardinals. Valenzi retaliated to put Penn State within two of the set.

At 23-22, Ball State tied the set off a Penn State service error that was followed by an Ezeonu kill and a Ndavazocheva kill to knot the exciting first set at 24-24. Valenzi earned a kill as Ball State called another timeout. This time out of the stoppage, a hectic rally resulted in a Kowal kill to give Penn State the first set 26-24.

The second set started with both teams alternating the first six scores to make it 3-3. Penn State broke the pattern with three straight points off an Ezeonu kill and consecutive Kowal kills. Penn State extended the 3-0 run to a 6-2 run with two more kills, each by Kerr, and a Cardinal service error.

Two kills by Kerr and a kill by Rose led to Ball State calling a timeout and an 11-6 lead. Rose continued Penn State’s momentum with a kill after the timeout, but Ball State scored four straight with two kills by Rogers, a kill by Savitski-Lynde, and an attack error on Penn State that resulted in the Nittany Lions calling a timeout at 13-10.

Matt Cosgrove notched an ace after the break for Penn State that was followed by an Ezeonu kill that forced a Ball State timeout at 15-10 Nittany Lions. Three errors on Penn State and kills by Ndavazocheva, Will Patterson, and Lucas Machado resulted in a 6-2 run for the Cardinals. Ball State tied the second set at 17-17 off a Kowal attack error.

Penn State stopped the bleeding with kills by Kerr and Kowal to extend the lead again to two. Both teams exchanged kills until a bad set by Luke Snyder tied the set at 20-20. Penn State went back on top off of two Ball State errors and a Kowal ace to give the Nittany Lions a 23-20 lead.

Rogers earned a kill for the Cardinals then Valenzi earned one to put the set within one for Penn State. Rose committed a service error, but Ezeonu closed the second set at 25-22 with a kill.

Both teams exchanged the first six scores again until Penn State scored consecutively with a Valenzi kill and a Ndavazocheva attack error that made it 5-3 Nittany Lions. That ignited a 5-3 Penn State run with kills by Kowal, Kerr, and Rose to make it 11-7 Penn State. The Rose kill started a run of seven consecutive kills by both teams that ended with a Ball State timeout and a 13-9 Penn State lead.

Penn State came out the timeout hot with consecutive aces by Valenzi. Ryan Bartz earned a kill for Ball State, but Penn State scored off a Rogers attack error and a third ace since the break. Ball State used another timeout at 17-10 Penn State, and alternating scores from both sides made it 20-13 for the Nittany Lions.

Both teams continued to alternate scores until Ball State broke the pattern with consecutive scores by Aaron Hernandez. Penn State extended its lead to 22-16 off a Hernandez attack error. Ball State scored off two Penn State errors, but the Nittany Lions matched with a Kowal kill and an attack error on Rogers.

Penn State closed the match with a kill by Rose to secure the sweep on the road.

Takeaways

• Coming into the match, Toby Ezeonu led the country in hitting percentage, averaging .531. Tonight, Ezeonu hit .583 along with eight kills and two aces.
• Defense wins championships, and tonight, the Nittany Lions allowed a .262 hitting percentage, including a .208 hitting percentage in the final set.
• Although Penn State was impressive offensively, it was inconsistent from the service line with a whopping 20 service errors.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will aim to continue their 3-0 win streak against Purdue Fort Wayne at 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 3, in Indiana.