Conference News
Penn State Defeats Laval in Rematch, 3-1
Penn State Defeats Laval in
Rematch, 3-1
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Feb. 13, 2010 - The No. 9 Penn State
men's volleyball team came away with a 3-1 (19-30, 30-25, 30-23,
30-23) victory against Laval in the second match in as many days
between the two teams. Five Nittany Lions posted double-digit kills
as a balanced offense guided Penn State to the win.
Senior Will Price (Gaithersburg, Md.) led Penn State with 16 kills,
while sophomore Ryan Wolf (York, Pa.) finished second on the team
with 13. Redshirt sophomore Joe Sunder (Greensburg, Pa.) and senior
Max Lipsitz (Williamsville, N.Y.) each tallied 12. Freshman Nick
Turko (Lewisberry, Pa.) rounded out the group with 10 kills on 11
errorless swings (.909%). Redshirt sophomore Edgardo Goas dished
out 59 assists and was second on the team with five total blocks.
Sunder had a team-best 10 digs and Lipsitz had a match-high nine
total blocks.
The Nittany Lions registered a .403 hitting percentage, while
holding Laval to .248. Penn State finished the match with 68 kills,
67 assists, five aces, 37 digs and 11.0 total team blocks. The
Rouge et Or finished the evening with 50 kills, 49 assists, four
aces, 26 digs and just 4.0 team blocks.
The first set started out close until a 5-2 run by the Rouge et Or
had Laval leading, 10-6, and Penn State taking a timeout. The Lions
managed to tally the next point on a Lipsitz kill, but three PSU
errors helped Laval take a five-point lead, 15-10, by halfway
through the set. Kills from Price and Wolf made it a four-point
set, 16-12, but three Laval putdowns, two PSU errors and a huge
Laval block moved the Rouge et Or ahead by seven, 21-14. Wolf
posted a kill on the next play, but a service error put the ball
back in Laval's hands. Laval failed to slow down and despite a Penn
State timeout, the Rouge et Or closed out the set taking a
convincing 30-19 win.
Penn State took an early 3-1 lead in set two before a Laval kill
and a PSU error had the set tied at 3-3. The score tied again at
4-4, but kills by Price and Turko put Penn State up by two, 6-4.
Laval tied it up one last time at 7-7 before the team committed a
service error to put the Lions in front for the remainder of the
set. By midway through the set, the Lions were holding on to a
two-point edge 15-13. Two Sunder kills and one from Lipsitz
sandwiching a Laval putdown, had Penn State move ahead by three,
18-15. Laval took a timeout and came within one, 18-17. However,
two Price kills and one from Turko increased Penn State's lead to
four, 23-19. When Penn State's lead increased to five, 25-20, Laval
called a second timeout. It failed to slow the Nittany Lions who
managed to hold on to the five-point advantage for a 30-25 second
set win.
Laval was on the board first in set three, but a Price kill and
Laval attack error had Penn State leading, 2-1. The score tied four
times before a 5-1 Penn State run gave Penn State a 10-6 lead.
Laval called a timeout and crept within one, 10-9, but a Lipsitz
kill and a Price ace gave the Lions a 12-9 lead. The Rouge et Or
fought to within one point of tying the set five times, but could
never grab enough momentum to take control. Leading 17-16, Penn
State took off on a second 5-1 run for a 22-16 lead forcing Laval
back to the bench. Laval fought to within four, 23-19, thanks to
two kills form Jonathan Marcoux and two PSU errors. Penn State held
off the Rouge et Or with a 7- 4 run to close out the set, 30-23.
Price, Turko, Wolf and Lipsitz each had a kill in the run.
Penn State wasted no time in getting ahead in the fourth set with a
4-1 lead. Lipsitz teamed up with Goas and Wolf for two blocks to
help Penn State early on. Laval tallied a second point on a PSU
service error, but the Lions posted three straight kills for a 7-2
advantage. The Rouge et Or scored two more points thanks to PSU
service errors. Leading by four, 8-4, the Lions' lead grew to six,
12-6, after a Goas dump, a kill from Wolf and two putdowns by
Sunder. Despite Laval coming within three, 13-10, Penn State was
leading 15-10 at the halfway point of the set. Sunder, Turko and
Price all notched kills in a small 5-3 run by the Lions, which was
capped off by a Sunder ace for a 20-13 lead. Laval called a timeout
and slowed PSU's momentum enough to fight to within four, 22-18,
with three kills and an ace. Penn State called a timeout of its own
and capitalized off two Laval errors and a huge Sunder kill for a
25-19 lead. The teams traded points as the match began to wind down
before Turko closed out the set with two kills.








