UNIVERSITY PARK -- The Penn State men's volleyball team started off the second half of its EIVA schedule with a resounding 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-21) sweep of in-state rival St. Francis at Rec Hall Tuesday night.
The win moves the Nittany Lions (10-12) to 6-2 in conference play, tied with George Mason for the second-best mark in the league.
The Red Flash (11-11) dropped its fifth match in a row and fall to 5-3 in the EIVA.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In the first set, both offenses endured an error-filled set. The Nittany Lions managed to only have eight kills versus seven errors (.036), but the Red Flash struggled even more so with a -.105 (7-11-38). The Nittany Lions had 6.5 team blocks in the set to contribute to the Red Flash error total, lead by Canyon Tuman's four block assists.
Penn State held a narrow 15-14 edge before rattling off six points in a row to take a commanding hold of the set. Four points were decided by Penn State blocks, with Matthew McLaren registering a solo block and a kill. McLaren also finished the set for Penn State with two more kills to give the Nittany Lions a nine-point set win.
The Nittany Lions faced a bit of adversity in the start of the second set as SFU took the early advantage. A Michael Fisher kill gave the Red Flash its largest advantage at 15-12, but the Nittany stormed back to tie the score and then take the lead on a Henrik Falck Lauten kill.
Calvin Mende had personal three-point scoring run to switch the set in Penn State's favor. Back-to-back kills and an ace by the redshirt junior gave Penn State a 22-17 edge and SFU never found a way to recover.
Six different Penn Staters picked up kills in the second set to evenly distribute the attack. Four Nittany Lions had three kills in the stanza, with Mende picking up his pair and Tuman also registering one.
Penn State wasted little time taking control in the third and final set by holding on to a three-point lead throughout the first half of the frame. The Nittany Lions built its lead to as high as five at 15-10 on Cal Fisher's serve after a Mende and Donorovich block and another SFU error.
SFU managed to pull back within three, but another Mende kill reextended the lead to five with his eighth kill of the evening at 20-15. The Nittany Lions never looked back as it would be McLaren once again picking up the final kill for his third set-clinching point of the match.
HEAR IT FROM THEM
Head Coach Mark Pavlik
"I thought we came out with a game plan and these guys did an outstanding job sticking to it. We had opportunities in the first game to blow it wide open. I think we had eight transition opportunities and we were serving until we scored our first true point. All of a sudden, that game could have been a lot different."
As the match went on and we got bogged down a little bit, we knew that we had some strengths on the bench with Luke Braswell and Calvin Mende to come in and make that double switchThe energy shot out of the gym and I thought we were able to roll from there."
"We have a lot of exuberance that is very talented. We couple that with the old guys that have been there and done that and have seen this movie before. The effort that we establish with guys on this team since August to integrate everyone into a new team, I think you are seeing it pay off in matches like tonight. The number of guys that we use for their strengths and they were ready to deliver. This team is finding out that when we set our minds to something and are discipline with it, those things can happen."
Redshirt Junior Calvin Mende
On the team's versatility: ""That is something that I have really enjoyed about this team from the beginning of the season. Our depth and versatility that some players bring to the table. If we have an "off" game we have other players who can step in. That is what really makes a big impact as a team. We have so many weapons to worry about and some of them are not even playing yet."
Redshirt Junior Luke Braswell
"Cal and I did not start and we were supposed to be support players and we did what the team needed us to do at that time. On the bench, it was to be loud and cheer and get rowdy. When we came in we needed to bring that energy that we had on the bench, the cheering and the rowdiness, we had to bring that to the court. I imagined we would feed off of that. We brought energy and something new for St. Francis to look at and the match went our way."
MIKE ANDERSON MEN OF THE MATCH
Calvin Mende and Luke Braswell both entered off the bench for the Nittany Lions and provided instant offense. Mende had his most efficient offensive outing of the season with eight kills at a .545 clip (8-2-11). He also tied a season-best with two service aces.
Braswell appeared in the second set and did a great job providing a different look from the setter position. He finished with 16 assists to go with three digs.
STAT STANDOUTS
Matthew McLaren had 10 kills for the fourth consecutive match to lead the Nittany Lions. He also added two blocks and a pair of digs.
Henrik Falck Lauten had eight digs to lead all players and added six kills with just one attack error.
Jason Donorovich posted another efficient offensive outing with five kills on nine attacks with only one error (.444).
Canyon Tuman and Brett Wildman combined for nine blocks in the game as Penn State had the advantage defensively at the net with 9.5 blocks to SFU's 7.0.
Penn State did its part to neutralize the country's leader in kills, Michael Fisher, who had a tough night with just nine kills and a .107 hitting percentage (9-6-28).
The Nittany Lions had a significant advantage defensively with 30 digs to the Red Flash's 17.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions make their New England trip to face Harvard and Sacred Heart this weekend, March 29-30.
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