No. 10 Penn State men’s volleyball (4-1, 0-0 EIVA) was swept 3-0 by No. 15 McKendree (3-2, 0-0 MIVA) on Friday night at Melvin Price Convocation Center. This was Penn State’s first loss of the season as it could not extend its undefeated start to five for the first time since 2023.

In their first road test of the season, the Nittany Lions narrowly lost the first set by two points, marking the first time they had been in a set deficit this season. This set win gave McKendree a lot of momentum, as it dominated the second set to take a two-set lead.

Penn State put up a good fight in the third set as both teams were tied at 17. However, McKendree pulled away in the end to complete the sweep and give the Nittany Lions their first loss of the season.

How It Happened

McKendree came out aggressively on the attack to begin the first set, winning the first two points on back-to-back kills. Penn State got on the board on the next point due to a service error before a kill by Tristan Hassell tied the set at two.

Both teams traded the next four points before kills by Bryce Wetjen and Nathan Flayter restored the Bearcats’ two-point lead. Service errors were exchanged until a kill by Owen Rose got the Nittany Lions within one of tying the set at seven. After Rose’s kill, three consecutive service errors were committed, with McKendree taking advantage of two of those three errors.

Penn State tied it up at nine on a kill by Sean Harvey and a service ace by Rose. Both teams traded service errors until a kill and service ace by Will Kilimek gave the Bearcats another two-point lead. This lead was short-lived as the Nittany Lions tied it up once again at 12.

Both teams traded blows for the next 10 points as the deadlock stayed intact. McKendree started to pull away as it won three of the next four points to take a 20-18 lead. On the next point, the Bearcats increased their lead to three on a solo block by Tyler Tripp. This forced Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik to use his first timeout of the match.

Out of the timeout, Wetjen recorded a huge kill for McKendree to get it within three points of winning the first set. However, the Nittany Lions started to show signs of life as they recorded consecutive kills to trim their deficit to two, leading the Bearcats to take a timeout. After the timeout, Penn State tied the set at 22 on a kill by Hassell and a solo block by Rose.

On the next point, Miller Trubey committed a critical service error that restored McKendree’s lead before a kill by Wetjen gave the Bearcats two set points. This led to another timeout by the Nittany Lions. Penn State saved a set point after the timeout, but McKendree refused to let this opportunity slip away, and Sam Hoskin’s kill on the next point allowed it to win the first set 25-23.

The Bearcats carried their momentum from winning the first set into the second set as they won four of the first five points. Both teams traded kills for the next four points until the Nittany Lions went on a 3-0 run to tie the set at six.

After the deadlock stayed intact for the next four points, the Bearcats started to pull away as they won four of the next five points to take a three-point lead. The Nittany Lions decreased their deficit to one with consecutive points, but could not tie the set at 12 as Wetjen recorded a huge kill for McKendree.

On the next point, Hassell recorded a kill that allowed Penn State to get within one. However, the Bearcats seized their momentum with a kill by Rolen Lively and an attack error by Hassell to take a 15-12 lead. This forced the Nittany Lions to use a timeout.

Wetjen committed a service error after the timeout, but Penn State committed back-to-back errors that allowed McKendree to extend its lead to four. Both teams went back-and-forth for the next four points until a kill by Hoskin got the Bearcats within five points of taking a two-set lead. This led Pavlik to take another timeout in hopes of cooling off McKendree’s momentum.

Out of the timeout, Flayter recorded consecutive service aces to increase the Bearcats’ lead to seven. He could not extend his service ace streak to three as he committed a service error on the next point. However, the Nittany Lions could not stop the bleeding as McKendree won the next two points to give it set point. Just like the first set, Hoskin put it away for the Bearcats with his kill to win the second set 25-16 and give them a two-set lead.

McKendree got off to a fast start as it won the first two points of the third set before a kill by Trubey put Penn State on the board. After Jaidyn Bethel committed a service error on the next point, the Nittany Lions tied the set up at three with back-to-back points.

However, Penn State struggled to sustain any sort of momentum as the Bearcats won three of the next four points to take a 6-4 lead. Both teams exchanged the next four points until a service error by Lively and a block assist by Rose and Bethel allowed the Nittany Lions to tie the set up at eight.

Both teams traded blows for the next eight points before an attack error by Tripp gave Penn State its first lead of the match. However, this lead was short-lived as the Bearcats retook the lead on a 3-0 run. The Nittany Lions tied at 15 right after with a kill by Bethel and an attack error by Wetjen.

McKendree restored its two-point lead with back-to-back points before Penn State returned the favor to tie it once again at 17. The Bearcats refused to give the Nittany Lions any sort of momentum and won consecutive points to retake a two-point lead. This forced Pavlik to take a timeout as the set started to slip away for Penn State.

After the timeout, both teams exchanged kills before a service error by Bennett Wilson and an ace by Hoskin got McKendree within three points of completing the sweep. This led to another timeout by the Nittany Lions. Things kept getting worse for Penn State as Tripp recorded consecutive kills to give the Bearcats six match-point opportunities.

Harvey saved two match points with back-to-back kills to trim Penn State’s deficit to four. However, on its third opportunity, McKendree finished off the sweep with a kill by Wetjen as it won the third set 25-20.

Takeaways

• The Nittany Lions struggled in their first road game of the season. They struggled to find any rhythm in this match as they held only one lead in the entire match, and were outplayed in every single category of this match. They will have to make a lot of improvements if they want to avoid the series sweep.
• Despite entering this match with a .500 record, McKendree showed why it is the No.15-ranked team in the country. It dominantly swept Penn State and always had a response whenever the momentum swung in the favor of the Nittany Lions. A big reason for this sweep was its service game, as it recorded eight aces compared to Penn State’s two.
• Sam Hoskin was the catalyst in McKendree’s upset win over Penn State. He recorded 12 of the team’s 37 kills, had a hitting percentage of .600, seven digs, along with two service aces and assists.

What’s Next?

Penn State will look to avoid the series sweep against No. 15 McKendree at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 24 in the second match of the two-match series. The match will be streamed on the GLVC Sports Network.