Conference News
No. 3 Penn State Mens Volleyball Defeats Saint Francis, 3-0
No. 3 Penn State Men's Volleyball Defeats Saint Francis,
3-0
Lipsitz, Sherrick and Sunder reach double-digit kill
figures
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Feb. 25, 2009 - The third-ranked Penn State
men's volleyball team defeated Saint Francis in three games (30-19,
30-19, 30-24) Wednesday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions
improve to 12-1 and 5-0 in the EIVA Tait while the Red Flash fall
to 7-8 and 3-3 in conference action.
"I was a little worried coming into this match," said head coach
Mark Pavlik. "This match was about energy and recovery from last
weekend. We jumped out early and executed well over the course of
the match. This was an important EIVA match and we never want to
take Saint Francis lightly. This team has to get better in each
match, especially with a huge Lewis match on Friday. We needed to
get into a rhythm tonight and we did that - tonight was about
making our team better."
Junior middle hitter Max Lipsitz (Williamsville, N.Y.) led the
Lions with 13 kills on .800 hitting (13-1-15) as senior middle
hitter Jon Sherrick (Mountville, Pa.) collected a season-high 12
kills on .647 hitting and redshirt freshman outside hitter Joe
Sunder (Greensburg, Pa.) added in 10 kills on .562 hitting. Junior
outside hitter Will Price (Gaithersburg, Md.) provided nine kills
as senior opposite Ryan Sweitzer (Lancaster, Pa.) produced five
kills. As a team, Penn State attacked at a .532 clip for the
match.
Redshirt freshman setter Edgardo Goas (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
dished out 46 assists and sophomore libero Dennis Del Valle (Toa
Alta, Puerto Rico) picked up 11 digs for his seventh double-digit
dig match of the year. Sunder provided six digs as Price and Goas
added in four and three, respectively.
Penn State outblocked Saint Francis, 13.0 to 5.0, led by Sherrick
with a career-high seven stuffs as Lipsitz posted six, Sweitzer
notched four and Goas and Price both contributed three.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 9-2 lead to start the match
behind blocks from Lipsitz and Sweitzer and Sunder and Sherrick.
Two Price kills and a Lipsitz and Sweitzer stuff made it 15-6 and
another block by Sherrick and Goas forced a Saint Francis timeout
at 18-8. Two Sherrick kills pushed the score to 19-11 and a Lipsitz
kill and ace made it 25-15 before a Price kill ended the game,
30-19.
The second set remained even early on, with kills from Sherrick and
Lipsitz breaking the 6-6 tie. A Sweitzer and Lipsitz block made it
11-8 before a Sunder kill pushed the lead to 17-12. A Lipsitz and
Price block along with kills from Lipsitz, Sunder and Price
extended the Penn State advantage to 23-15 before two Sherrick
kills and a Sherrick and Price block competed the stanza,
30-19.
Penn State again caught fire early in the third game, going up 7-2
aided by two solo Sherrick blocks. Three Saint Francis kills and
two blocks brought the Red Flash within two at 11-9. The teams
traded points several times before Saint Francis grabbed the 18-16
lead behind three blocks. The squads exchanged kills several times
before a Sunder kill, a Goas and Sherrick block and a Sherrick kill
put Penn State back on top, 22-21. Two more Sherrick kills along
with a Lipsitz and Price block pushed the score to 26-23 before
kills from Lipsitz and Price ended the game, 30-24.











