Sept. 12, 2014
Final Stats (PDF) I Final Stats (HTML)
VILLANOVA, Pa. - Behind a trio of double-digit kill performances, No. 3 Penn State women's volleyball (6-1) swept past (25-19, 25-12, 25-15) Villanova (4-5) in straight sets Friday evening at the Pavilion. With the victory, the Nittany Lions improve to 2-0 in the Villanova Classic with two more matches remaining in the event.
Junior Megan Courtney led the offense with 14 kills on .591 hitting, adding eight digs. Redshirt junior Aiyana Whitney and freshman Ali Frantti rounded out the group of double-digit performers with 10 kills each. Both Courtney and Whitney posted .571 or higher hitting clips in the win. Senior Nia Grant tallied eight kills, while also registering a squad-best .615 hitting percentage and two blocks.
Senior Micha Hancock directed the Nittany Lion offense to a .416 overall hitting efficiency, dishing out 47 assists. She also logged six digs to go along with a match-high six aces. Senior Dominique Gonzalez anchored the defense with a team-high 10 digs.
Penn State shot out to a 5-1 lead in the match paced by two kills from Whitney and an ace from Hancock. A PSU attack error interrupted the streak, 5-2, but the Nittany Lions regrouped with a 3-1 spurt, capped off by two consecutive kills from Courtney to go up, 8-3.
The Wildcats answered with back-to-back kills to trim the gap to three, 8-5. Penn State followed with another 3-0 spurt featuring an ace from Courtney, to move ahead by six, 11-5. Another Nittany Lion attack error broke up the streak, 11-6, but Penn State used a 5-3 stretch to stay ahead, 16-9.
Two Penn State errors and a Villanova kill brought the Wildcats within four, 16-12, but PSU rebounded with a quick 3-0 strike to extend the lead to as many as seven, 19-12. Looking to mount a comeback, Nova went point-for-point with the Nittany Lions, coming within five, 22-17, following a kill after a PSU service error. Holding off the Wildcats, Penn State used a 3-2 stretch to wrap up a 25-19 win in the first set.
The Nittany Lions opened set two on an 8-3 stretch to build the early advantage. The Wildcats attempted to narrow the deficit with a kill, 8-4, but Penn State quickly doubled the advantage, 14-7, helped out by a solid 5-3 strike. Villanova chipped away at the lead with a 3-2 spurt to make it 16-10, but the Nittany Lions cruised to a 25-12 win in the second set on a 9-2 streak.
Leading by one, 4-3, in set three, Penn State pulled away with a 5-1 run to construct a five-point lead, 9-4. The Wildcats managed to shave the lead back to three, 11-8, helped out by a 4-2 run. PSU quickly responded with the same 4-2 stretch, capped off by kills from Frantti and Courtney to bolster the Nittany Lion advantage to five, 15-10. The Wildcats made one final attempt to mount a comeback with a kill, 15-11, but Penn State rolled to a 25-15 win in the third set to complete the sweep.
Next up, Penn State returns to the court tomorrow to take on another pair of opponents in the Villanova Classic. The Nittany Lions square off against Yale at noon before concluding the weekend with a matchup against No. 24 Kansas at 5:30 p.m. in the Pavilion.