Conference News
No. 7 Nittany Lions Roar Past Tigers
No. 7 Nittany Lions Roar Past
Tigers
PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 26, 2010 - The seventh-ranked Penn State
men's volleyball team took on the Princeton Tigers (4-5, 0-2 EIVA)
Friday evening and secured a 3-0 (30-16, 30-13, 30-25) victory. The
Nittany Lions improved to 11-2 overall with a 5-0 record in EIVA
play.
Sophomore Ryan Wolf (York, Pa.) and redshirt sophomore Joe Sunder
(Greensburg, Pa.) led the Lions with 11 kills apiece on .615 and
.533 hitting, respectively. Senior Will Price (Gaithersburg, Md.)
finished the night with nine kills. Redshirt sophomore Edgardo Goas
(San Juan, Puerto Rico) and sophomore Tor Covello (Yardley, Pa.)
shared the setting duties with Goas tallying 21 assists and Covello
19. Wolf had a team-high nine digs and senior Max Lipsitz
(Williamsville, N.Y.) had three total blocks.
The Nittany Lions registered a .468 attack percentage, while
holding the Tigers to just .109. Penn State finished the night with
47 kills, 44 assists, eight aces, 28 digs and 7.0 team blocks.
Princeton totaled 31 kills, 28 assists, three aces, 12 digs and 3.0
team blocks.
After the Tigers opened the match with a 2-1 lead, Lipsitz served
three straight points for the Lions for a 5-2 lead. Penn State held
on to at least a two-point lead until a 3-0 run had the Nittany
Lions leading by five, 15-10, midway through the first set. Michael
Dye notched a kill to put the Tigers within four, 15-11, but a 6-1
run by PSU had Penn State's lead at nine, 21-12. Wolf teamed up
with freshman Nick Turko (Lewisberry, Pa.) for two blocks in the
run. A service error had the Tigers within eight, 22-13. However,
Penn State four straight points for a 25-13 advantage. The Tigers
managed just three additional points, as two Princeton service
errors and kills by Lipsitz and Price gave Penn State a 30-16 set
one win.
Penn State jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the second set after two
aces by Price and kills from Lipsitz, Price and Sunder. Jeff Zhao
notched a kill for the Tigers, but Lipsitz put up a solo stuff and
Price put down a kill for a 9-3 PSU lead. After a Princeton
timeout, Penn State's lead continued to grow as PSU took off on a
6-0 run for a 15-3 lead. Sunder had two kills in the run, Goas and
Wolf had one kill each and Lipsitz had an ace. Carl Hamming cut off
the Nittany Lion run with a kill, but after a PSU kill and a block,
the Tigers went on a 6-0 run of their own to cut the deficit to
seven, 17-10. Two Tiger errors had Princeton calling a timeout.
Penn State failed to slow down and allowed Princeton to register
just two more point. Penn State closed out set two on a 11-2 run
for a 30-13 win.
Set three started much like the second with Penn State taking a 6-2
lead and Princeton taking an early timeout. Following the break,
Covello served four straight points for PSU as its lead grew to
eight, 11-3. However, A Zhao kill sparked a 6-2 Princeton run that
cut Penn State's lead to three, 12-9. Two Wolf kills and a
Princeton attack error put the Lions back up by five, 15-10,
halfway through the frame. Penn State continued to dominate the
Tigers as the Nittany Lion lead increased to 21-14. Princeton took
a second timeout and this time it slowed Penn State. The Nittany
Lion lead hovered around seven points until a 5-3 run by the
Tigers, including back-to-back kills by Dye, cut Penn State's lead
to only three, 27-24. A kill by Thomas Pereira (Brasilia, Brazil),
a Princeton service error and a joint stuff by freshmen Tom Comfort
(Orchard Park, N.Y.) and Ian Hendries (Cardiff, Calif.) gave Penn
State a 30-25 third set victory.











