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No. 14 Penn State Men’s Volleyball Drops Fourth Straight Match In 3-1 Loss To No. 11 Stanford

No. 14 Penn State men’s volleyball (0-4) fell to No. 11 Stanford (3-1) 3-1 in the final game of the First Point Collegiate Challenge in Austin, Texas, on Saturday night. It’s the Nittany Lions’ fourth straight loss of the 2025 campaign, marking its worst start since 1999.

Matthew Luoma and Will Kuhns were the top two scorers for Penn State. Luoma finished with 10 kills and one ace but hit just .033. Kuhns had 10 kills, one ace, and hit .185.

Theo Shoey and Ryan DuRoss were the biggest contributors to Standford’s victory. Shoey had 15 kills and hit .323 while DuRoss had eight kills, two aces, and hit .235.

How It Happened

Penn State’s final First Point Collegiate Challenge match started with the Nittany Lions taking an early lead off a Stanford service error. However, Snoey and Theoren Brouillette recorded kills for the Cardinal to regain the early lead.

The teams exchanged errors, and Luoma notched Penn State’s first kill of the match. Moses Wagner got a kill for Stanford and Owen Rose did the same to give the Nittany Lions the 5-4 lead. It was back and forth for the next three scores until two Cardinal errors gave Penn State a two-score lead.

However, the lead quickly slipped when the Nittany Lions committed consecutive errors, making it a string of five straight errors between both sides. Yet another service error gave Penn State the lead, again, at 9-8. Snoey posted a kill for Stanford and four-straight service errors between the two teams tied the match.

But just like that, Penn State flipped a switch and went on a 4-0 scoring run, mostly due to Rose. The redshirt junior tallied a kill, a block assist with Michael Schwob, and another block assist with Sean Harvey. Luoma capped the run with a kill before the media timeout.

Stanford took four of the next five scores out of the break to make it a one-score game but Wagner committed a service error to make it 17-15 Penn State. The lead extended again when Schwob landed an ace to force a Cardinal timeout.

Play resumed with three more service errors between both teams. Kuhns got on the board with a kill to put Penn State five scores away from claiming the first set. The Nittany Lions committed a service error but got the point back when Luoma and Rose teamed up for a block.

Luoma was called for a service error but scored a kill off the next serve as Stanford called its final timeout of the set at 22-19 Penn State. A three-man block by Stanford brought the Cardinal within one until Luoma recorded another kill.

Rose’s service error and another Stanford block cut the lead to just one as Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik used his first timeout of the set. Wagner committed his fifth error of the set to make it match point. The Nittany Lions couldn’t capture the set off Schwob’s serve but Harvey’s kill gave Penn State the 25-23 set win.

The Nittany Lions picked up where they left off and jumped to an early lead in the second set off two Stanford errors, a block by Gaige Gabriel and Luoma, and Gabriel’s kill. Penn State kept pressing after Harvey’s error and scored two more times, with the help of Kuhns’s kill, to force an early Cardinal timeout at 6-1.

Stanford got back on the board with a block and a Snoey kill to cut Penn State’s lead in half. An error and a block by Schwob and Rose extended the lead to 8-3. Luoma committed a service error, but Rose got a kill and another Cardinal error put Penn State at double digits.

An ace by Kuhns made it a 3-0 scoring run for the Nittany Lions, but DuRoss ended the small run with a kill. Luoma notched a kill of his own and Gabriel and Harvey met for a block for the eight-point lead.

DuRoss’s kill and Wagner’s ace slightly shrunk the lead but the game hit a snag with a run of service errors from both sides. Kuhns broke the error streak with a kill, followed by a kill from Snoey to make it 16-10. Penn State took two of the next three scores but two Luoma errors and a block made it a 3-0 run for Stanford.

Harvey’s kill ended the run, but Stanford scored two more to make it a 19-16 game as Penn State used a timeout. Harvey posted another kill out of the break but was countered by two kills from Snoey and another from Kaumana Carreira to shrink Penn State’s lead to one.

A DuRoss ace made it a 4-0 run for the Cardinal and tied the set at 20-20. However, a costly service error from DuRoss and an ace from Harvey forced Stanford to use a timeout with the Nittany Lions three scores away from winning the set.

Kuhns recorded a kill and Harvey recorded a service error at 23-21. Gabriel tallied a kill and an error, and DuRoss got a kill to force a Penn State timeout at 24-23. Shoey tied the set for Stanford to force an overtime. Brouillette’s ace put the Cardinal in match point, but his service error kept Penn State alive.

Wagner put his team ahead with a kill but Snoey committed a service error. Kuhns did the same and Rose got a kill to tie the set again. Wagner tallied a kill and Gabriel did the same but a Harvey error and a DuRoss ace stole the second set from Penn State as Standford won 30-28.

Penn State got on the board first to start the third set, then Carreira got a kill. The Nittany Lions went on a 4-1 run that featured a block by Gabriel and an ace by Rose. Stanford took five of the next seven scores until Penn State went on a 3-1 run for the 10-8 lead.

Another run broke out and this time it was Stanford that went on a 5-1 run. Gabriel ended the momentum with a kill but the Cardinal took two of the next three scores with a 15-13 lead at the media timeout. Two Stanford errors tied the set for Penn State but a 3-0 run regained the lead for the Cardinal as the Nittany Lions used a timeout.

Four of the next five scores were decided by a service error except a three-man block by Schwob, Rose, and Harvey. Stanford took four of the next six scores for the 24-20 lead. The Cardinal took set No. 3 off an error after Penn State’s timeout.

Luoma started the fourth set with an ace but it was followed by two Penn State errors. An error and two Stanford kills gave the home team a 4-2 lead. Kuhns got Penn State’s first kill of the set but Stanford scored three of the next four to maintain its lead.

The Nittany Lions cut the deficit to just one, but Stanford rattled off six straight scores for a 13-6 lead as Penn State used a timeout. Stanford scored three straight out of the break and never let go of the lead. The teams split the next 10 scores as the Cardinal led 18-11.

Penn State took three of the next four with kills from Harvey and Luoma but Stanford scored the same to make it 23-15. The Cardinal took the final set 25-19 off a kill from Shoey.

Takeaways

  • The start of the season has not been kind to Penn State and it won’t get any easier. The Nittany Lions have faced four straight top-15 opponents and will play a pair of matches against Ohio State and face UCLA again before the end of the month.
  • The second set shifted all the momentum to Stanford’s side. Penn State took the first set and had as much as an eight-score lead in the second but Stanford made a huge comeback to win the set 30-28.
  • Hitting accuracy was a problem for Penn State. The team hit just .139 as Stanford hit .242.

What’s Next?

Penn State will play Ohio State in its home opener at 7 p.m. on Thursday, January 23, in Rec Hall. The match can be streamed on BTN+.

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About the Author

Mitch Corcoran

Mitch is a senior broadcast journalism major from Johnstown, PA. He is a big Pittsburgh sports fan and in his free time he likes to listen to music, play video games, and rewatch old football games. He also loves Seinfeld, Star Wars, bucket hats, Chili's, and Dua Lipa. If you want Justin Herbert propaganda or random sports content, follow him on Twitter/X @MitchCorc18 or email [email protected]

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