No. 17 Penn State men’s volleyball (0-5) was swept by No. 3 UCLA (5-1) 3-0 in the first game of the Big Ten Challenge in Columbus, Ohio, Friday afternoon.

The Nittany Lions mounted a six-point comeback in the first set and held a 13-8 advantage in the second but were unable to finish either set.

Will Kuhns and Matthew Luoma led the team in kills with 11 and seven, respectively. Kuhns also hit .217 with two assists, and one ace as Luoma hit .176.

How It Happened

Penn State came out swinging to start the match. It scored on kills by Luoma, Gaige Gabriel, and two by Kuhns. However, it also committed errors between each score for a 4-4 start.

UCLA scored four of the next five points to take an 8-5 first set lead. The Nittany Lions shrunk the lead with Gabriel’s kill and Michael Schwob’s ace. The Bruins went on another run, this time scoring five of the next six points to make it 13-8 as Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik used his first timeout of the set.

Penn State earned the next two scores via UCLA errors. However, the Bruins went on a small 3-0 run until it was ended by a service error. The Nittany Lions took three of the next five scores with the help of a kill and an ace by Kuhns.

A Cameron Thorne kill and a Kuhns attack error made it 20-14 UCLA as Penn State used its final timeout of the set. The Nittany Lions then scored off two UCLA errors and a Luoma kill to cut the lead to three as the Bruins called their first timeout.

UCLA notched a kill by Zach Rama, but Penn State closed the gap and made it a one-score game after a 4-1 run and forced the Bruins to use their final timeout of the set. The run featured a Bruin attack error, kills by Kuhns and Sean Harvey, and a block by Luoma and Owen Rose.

Penn State then took the 23-22 lead after the break with an ace by Gabriel and a kill by Kuhns. UCLA tied the set again with a kill but a Bruin service error put the Nittany Lions at set point.

A kill by Cooper Robinson and a block by Robinson and Throne pushed the set into overtime and gave the Bruins a one-point lead. Overtime extended as the next four scores were errors exchanged between the two teams. However, back-to-back kills by Rama and Robison gave UCLA the first set win at 28-26.

The second set started with the teams exchanging the first four scores as UCLA took the lead with a Robinson kill. Penn State scored four of the next five points due to two errors and kills by Kuhns and Luoma. A string of kills by both sides then made it 7-5 Nittany Lions.

Penn State went on a 4-1 run off of two UCLA errors, an ace by Rose, and a kill by Harvey to force a Bruin timeout at 11-6. David Decker notched a kill for the Bruins after the break and the teams traded five straight errors until Rose found a kill at 14-10 Penn State.

The back-and-forth play resumed for the next four scores until UCLA scored off a Penn State error and a Kahale Clini ace as the Nittany Lions used a timeout. Another Clini ace and a Decker kill, with a Clini service error between the two scores, made it 17-16 Penn State. Decker then tied the set with an ace on the next serve.

Decker committed a service error on his next serve as a run of kills gave Penn State the lead again at 20-19. The run consisted of kills by Rama and Robinson for UCLA and Luoma and Kuhns for Penn State.

The Bruins scored three of the next four points as Penn State used its final timeout of the second set at 22-21 UCLA. Rama recorded consecutive kills out of the break and a service error on each side bolstered the Bruins to the 25-22 set victory.

UCLA took a 2-0 lead to start the third set until Penn State tied it off an error and a Schwob ace. Three of the next four scores went to the Bruins before Kuhns recorded a kill. UCLA then took six of the next eight scores as Penn State used a timeout at 11-7 Bruins.

Kuhns found another kill out of the break but Decker had a kill and an ace in return. The Nittany Lions scored off of two errors but a 3-0 run forced Penn State to use its final timeout of the set down 16-9. The Bruins then took four of the next five points for an eight-point lead.

The Nittany Lions scored off of two more errors and Rama and Thiago Zamprogno recorded kills for UCLA. A service error and a block by Rose gave Penn State two more points at 21-15 UCLA.

A 4-0 run by the Bruins completed the sweep with a 25-15 third set win.

Takeaways

• The Nittany Lions are now 0-5 to start the season. They have only won two sets during the losing streak and lost 15.
• Hitting percentage has been a struggle for Penn State this season. The Nittany Lions hit .172 in this match and haven’t hit better than .258 in a match this year.
• One of the biggest contributors to the losing streak is the lack of kills. UCLA had 14 more kills in this one to put the Nittany Lions at -31 kill differential on the season.

What’s Next?

Penn State will play its second and final game of the Big Ten Challenge against No. 6 USC at 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 1.