This week I am going to be writing about the Penn State men’s volleyball team. On Friday evening, the Nittany Lions played Princeton at home at Rec Hall. I played volleyball in high school, so this was a lot of fun to look in to and read about. While I couldn’t go to this match, I plan on attending several more volleyball matches by the end of this year.
The 10th-ranked Penn State men’s volleyball team roared to a big comeback victory, winning three-straight sets to down No. 11 Princeton, 3-1. The scores in each of the sets were 20-25, 25-23, 25-20, and finally 25-19.
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After dropping set one and grinding out a set two win, the Nittany Lions hit .473 (33-7-55) in the third and fourth sets to roll to five and six-point wins in the last two games.
The Nittany Lions snapped Princeton’s three-match win streak with the win and ended the Tigers’ five-match win streak over PSU since the 2018 season.
In the first set, both teams were tied 9-9 when the Nittany Lions went on a 5-0 run, with four points coming behind the serve of Brett Wildman. The run included an ace by the sophomore and two kills from senior Jason Donorovich.
Princeton slowly worked its way back with a four-point run later to pull within one at 16-15 and the Tigers eventually took lead at 19-18 and did not look back, ending the first game on a 16-6 run after taking a timeout all the way back when Penn State led at 14-9.
In set two, Penn State got a service ace from Henrik Falck Lauten to make it 7-4 as a part of a three-point rally that gave PSU an 8-4 lead.
Princeton pulled the margin within as close as two at several points and even managed to pull within one late a couple of times with both teams in the 20s, but Penn State persevered to win the game after a big block from Sam Marsh and Wildman plus a Princeton error gave the Nittany Lions its final two points needed.
Penn State made a lineup change in the third set by inserting Bobby Wilden to the rotation and the Nittany Lions found a much smoother offensive rhythm. Princeton led 6-2 early, but the Nittany Lions clawed their way back to tie the score 11-11 and take a 13-12 edge on a Wilden kill.
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PSU hit .481 (16-3-27) after posting hitting percentages of .097 and .154 in the first two sets. Back-to-back kills from Wildman and Wilden at 16-14 put momentum on Penn State’s side and the Nittany Lions never looked back, taking the set by five, 25-20.
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The Nittany Lions came out with a closers’ mentality in the fourth game to put the match away. Penn State had three kills in a row from Wildman, Wilden, and Donorovich to lead 13-8 and force a Princeton timeout.
Penn State’s lead swelled to nine points at 19-10 after two more Wilden kills and a Princeton attack error and the Nittany Lions wouldn’t allow the Tigers to recover, ending the match with a 25-19 win in game four.
Up next, Penn State will be playing at Sacred Heart University, Friday at 6.
I think means volleyball is one of the more underrated sports in the world. The absurdity of some of those guys’ hops combined with the power they generate into spikes is insane and fun to watch.
This is a very interesting sport to read about. I have never been to one of the men’s volleyball games but I am glad that they were able to complete this comeback victory.
The men’s volleyball team is very fun to watch, and they have had many close, exciting games this year! One of my friend’s from high school plays on the team, so it’s been neat to see him play at such a high level. Also, since I play Club Volleyball, I’ve been scheduled to work some of the games, and it’s been a unique experience to watch the games while on the court level.
Watching volleyball really puts you on the edge of your seat. It’s awesome to see Penn State teams truly securing ranks this year. It makes these kind of games hype, especially with this game against Princeton, who brought about the creation of the Nittany Lion in the first place.