No. 8 Penn State men’s volleyball (0-2) was beaten by No. 14 Lewis (2-0) 3-0 on Saturday night in the Nittany Lions’ second-straight loss to a ranked opponent.

The Nittany Lions couldn’t find much offense and struggled against the Flyers, falling by ten in each of the first two sets.

How It Happened

Lewis started the game with a kill from Max Roquet to start a 3-0 run from there before the Nittany Lions were finally able to get on the board. Matthew Luoma notched a kill after the Flyers grabbed another point and Penn State was quickly down 4-2. The Flyers were given a free ball and capitalized before Will Kuhns registered a kill to make it 6-3.

Luoma missed on a kill and an ace from the Flyers put them up 8-4. Schwob couldn’t hit on a kill attempt and head coach Mark Pavlik called a timeout with Penn State trailing 9-4. Oguzhan Oguz registered a kill out of the timeout and Luoma hit one into the net and things continued to go badly for the Nittany Lions. Penn State finally got serve back on a side out but continued to trail 11-5.

Tyler Morgan rejected a Sean Harvey kill attempt and the Flyers followed it up with another point before Harvey slammed the ball to the court and brought the deficit to 14-8. Rose had an attack error on the next point and the Flyer lead ballooned back to seven.

Harvey couldn’t handle a Flyer serve but an attack error from Lewis brought the score to 7-16. Schwob couldn’t capitalize with serve and gave it back to the Flyers on an error that pushed the lead to ten at 17-7. The lead remained at 10 until Penn State strung two points together with a service error from the Flyers before a kill from Kuhns made it 20-11 in favor of Lewis.

The Flyers pushed the lead back out to 10 at 22-12. Harvey managed another kill, but the Nittany Lions couldn’t muster a first-set comeback and fell 25-15.

Roquet took a point on a kill to open the second set before Gaige Gabriel got his own kill to even the score at 1-1. After going back and forth, the Nittany Lions took the lead off a kill from Harvey and an Owen Rose service ace, but an error on the next serve tied it back up at 5-5.

The Flyers retook the lead from an attack error by the Nittany Lions but a kill from Kuhns evened the score at 8-8. Lewis went on a 5-2 run from there and found themselves up 13-10. Penn State once again fell victim to a Lewis run, forcing a Penn State timeout with the Nittany Lions trailing 16-12.

Kuhns notched a kill on the first point out of the timeout but Lewis answered with a kill from Roquet to make the score 17-13. A service error got Penn State to 14, but the Flyers rattled off two more kills and an ace to make it 20-14 and force another timeout from Pavlik.

Roquet couldn’t find the court on his serve out of the timeout, but the Flyers went on another 3-0 run and went up 23-15. The run turned into four with an error from Luoma and the Flyers took the second set on the next point off of a kill from Frederick Krueger-Beer as the Nittany Lions lost the second set 25-15.

Schwob grabbed a kill on the first play of the third set which was followed by a kill from Gabriel that put the Nittany Lions up 2-0.

Lewis got a point on a kill from Roquet, but Luoma answered to keep the lead at two. Lewis strung two together to tie the set, but the Nittany Lions went back up on an attack error from the Flyers. Penn State took a two-point lead at 8-6, but Lewis took the next two points and tied the game back up.

The teams continued to trade points until Lewis rattled off a 3-0 run that put them up 13-11 and forced a Penn State timeout. Oguz missed the court after the timeout and the Nittany Lions drew even on an attack error that made it 13-13. Rose and Luoma had back-to-back kills before Luoma also notched a service ace to put Penn State up 16-14 as the Flyers called their first timeout.

A service error brought Lewis to within one, but Kuhns got the lead back to 17-15. Lewis took two in a row and tied the game at 18-18 before taking the lead on an attack error. Roquet followed it up with a service ace and Lewis went up 20-18, forcing another Penn State timeout.

A service error out of the timeout made it 20-19, but a kill from Oguz put Lewis up 21-19. The run continued until Harvey stopped it with a kill to bring the score to 23-20.

Lewis reached set point on a kill from Daniel Haber and completed the sweep two points later on a service error that gave the Flyers the set at 25-22.

Takeaways

• Will Kuhns led the offense with 13 kills, but the next closest Nittany Lions were Matthew Luoma and Sean Harvey, with seven apiece.
• The Nittany Lions struggled with the serve on Saturday. Lewis registered eight aces, while the Nittany Lions only managed three.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will be back in action for the First Point Collegiate Challenge in Austin, Texas. Penn State will first take on UCLA at 5 p.m. on Friday, January 17.