No. 20 Penn State Men’s Volleyball Completes Second Sweep Over Saint Francis
No. 20 Penn State men’s volleyball (3-7, 1-1 EIVA) won its home opener against Saint Francis (1-10) with another sweep on Saturday afternoon as it raised last year’s EIVA championship banner.
After sweeping Saint Francis on Friday night, the Nittany Lions completed another sweep over the Red Flash in three competitive sets. Penn State dominated this match from start to finish as the team recorded 37 kills and won all three sets by more than four points.
How It Happened
Saint Francis won the first point of the match with a kill by Andrew Deardorff before a kill by Matt Cosgrove got Penn State on the board. After the Red Flash won consecutive points, Owen Rose and Matthew Luoma recorded a block assist for the Nittany Lions. However, Saint Francis put its foot on the gas and went on a 4-0 run to take an early 7-2 lead. This forced Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik to take an early timeout.
Out of the timeout, both teams traded blows for the next four points before the Nittany Lions showed their resilience and went on a 4-0 run to trim their deficit to one. This run was highlighted with a service ace by Rose and three attack errors by the Red Flash.
However, Saint Francis refused to surrender its lead and responded with a 3-0 run. The Nittany Lions refused to let the Red Flash seize their momentum and responded by winning four of the next five points to reduce their deficit to one once again. This forced Saint Francis to take its first timeout of the match.
Both teams exchanged points after the timeout, but Penn State took its first lead of the match by winning consecutive points. Both teams went back and forth for the next six points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. Will Kuhns recorded a critical kill on the next point to make it 19-17 Penn State.
This back-and-forth affair continued for the next six points before a service ace by Saint Francis trimmed its deficit to one. However, the Nittany Lions won back-to-back points on a kill by Luoma and a block assist by Gaige Gabriel and Luoma to give themselves their first set point. Penn State capitalized on its opportunity as Luoma’s kill allowed it to take the first set 25-21.
The second set got underway with Penn State riding its momentum from the first set and winning the first three points. After an attack error by Cosgrove got Saint Francis on the board, both teams traded points before the Nittany Lions went on a 4-0 run to take an early 8-2 lead. This run was highlighted with kills by Rose and Cosgrove along with a service ace by Luoma. This led to a timeout by Saint Francis.
After the timeout, both teams exchanged the next four points before an attack error by Rose reduced the Red Flash’s deficit to five. Penn State won consecutive points, but Saint Francis refused to give up and went on a 3-0 run to get within four of Penn State’s lead. This forced Pavlik to take a timeout in hopes of his team regaining its footing.
Brayden Gall recorded an ace for Saint Francis after the timeout before a huge kill by Gabriel gave the Nittany Lions some breathing room. Both teams exchanged points, but the Red Flash won back-to-back to trim their deficit to two.
This back-and-forth exchange continued for the next six points as Penn State’s two-point lead stayed intact. The Nittany Lions refused to give the Red Flash any sort of momentum and went on a critical 3-0 run to extend their lead to five. This run was highlighted with kills by Luoma and Gabriel along with an attack error by Saint Francis.
The Red Flash responded by winning three of the next four points. Both teams went and forth for the next four points before a service error by Saint Francis gave Penn State its first set point. Just like the first set, Luoma recorded a kill to win the second set 25-20.
The Nittany Lions got off to a fast start in the third set as they won the first four points. However, the Red Flash refused to go away and responded by going on a 4-1 run to decrease their deficit to one. On the next point, Saint Francis committed a service error to give the Nittany Lions an early 6-4 lead.
The Red Flash continued to show signs of life and went on a 3-1 run to tie the set at seven. Both teams traded points before the Nittany Lions won consecutive points to regain the lead. This back-and-forth affair continued on for the next six points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact.
However, the Nittany Lions refused to let the Red Flash get back into the match and went on a 3-0 run to take a 16-11 lead. This run was highlighted with a kill by Kuhns and two attack errors by Saint Francis which forced them to take a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Red Flash won consecutive points, but Penn State went on another 3-0 run to extend its lead to six. Both teams exchanged points before back-to-back points by Saint Francis reduced its deficit to four. Both teams went back and forth for the next four points as Penn State was getting near the finish line.
The Nittany Lions refused to give Saint Francis any sort of momentum and Luoma recorded back-to-back kills to give themselves their first match point. Just like the first two sets, Penn State was able to capitalize on its first opportunity as Luoma’s kill ended the set 25-18.
Takeaways
- After starting 0-7, the Nittany Lions have finally started to turn a corner in their season by winning three consecutive matches. They have played much better and all wins have been sweeps.
- Hitting percentage and digs played a huge factor in determining the outcome of this match. Saint Francis had a hitting percentage of .175 compared to Penn State’s .343. Also, Penn State had 25 digs compared to Saint Francis’s 13.
- Luoma played his best game of the season as he recorded 18 of the team’s 37 kills. He came up big for the Nittany Lions and three of his kills finished off all three sets.
What’s Next?
Penn State will try to extend its winning streak as it hits the road next weekend to take on No. 19 NJIT in a two-game series. The first game will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, February 21.
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