State College, Pa- The Saint Francis men's volleyball team falls in complete sets (16-25, 21-25, 21-25) to Penn State Tuesday night at Rec Hall.
The loss stops a four-game conference winning streak for the Red Flash who drops to 11-11 overall and 5-3 in conference play. Penn State improves to 10-12 overall and 6-2 in the EIVA.
First set
- The first set was tightly contested in the early going as neither team led by more than two points.
- Penn State eventually strunged three in a row to take a four-point lead at 10-6 followed by a Saint Francis timeout.
- SFU applied some pressure after the timeout, putting the set within one at 15-14 before three errors and a kill pushed the lead back up to four at 18-14.
- The Nittany Lions managed to hold the Red Flash away by a significant margin for the rest of the set.
- Set Score: PSU 25, SFU 16- PSU leads 1-0
Second Set
- The Red Flash took an early two-point edge on Christian Graziano's (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) kill, 7-5.
- A Brett Wildman kill tied the set a 7-7, but an SFU attack error and another kill by Wildman allowed the Nittany Lions to jump out to its first lead of the set at 9-7.
- Back to back attack errors helped the Red Flash sway the momentum back in its favor and rally on a 3-0 run capped by a Cole Thompson (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Alamitos) ace.
- Leading 13-10, Saint Francis managed to sustain its lead before PSU regained its footing and jumped out to a 21-17 lead.
- Saint Francis made things interesting by pulling within three at 22-19 on a Hayden Herc (Eden, N.Y./Eden) block, but Penn State scored three of the next five to take its second set of the match
- Set Score: PSU 25, SFU 21- PSU leads 2-0
Third Set
- Penn State took the initial lead in the set and ended up not giving it up for the remainder of the frame.
- Herc picked up a kill to pull Saint Francis within two at 6-4 and Graziano had a kill to make it 10-8, but that would be the closest the Red Flash would get.
- The Nittany Lions ran off four of the next five points capped by an attack error before a monster kill by Michael Fisher (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Pepperdine)) ended the run.
- SFU made things interesting by pulling within two at 23-21 on a Fisher ace, but Penn State scored back to back points to take the set and match.
- Set Score: PSU 25, SFU 21- PSU wins 3-0
Game Stats
- Michael Fisher (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Pepperdine)) had a game-high nine kills for the Red Flash while hitting at a .107 clip (9-6-28). He also added with an ace, two digs, and three blocks.
- Graziano stepped up off the bench with eight kills on a .500 hitting percentage (8-2-12).
- Defensively, Herc led the middle with four total blocks as Fisher and Cole Carver (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) followed with three.
- Matthew McLaren led the Nittany Lions offensively with 10 kills as Canyon Tuman contributed defensively with a match-high five blocks.
Next Up
The Red Flash will continue its trek on the road as it heads to the Northeast for two crucial EIVA matches against Harvard and Sacred Heart.
