| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sept. 9, 2016
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - No. 17 Penn State women's volleyball (3-3) opened the first day of the Syracuse Classic with a straight set (25-11, 25-10, 25-12) win against Siena (1-6) Friday morning at the Women's Building.
Four Nittany Lions registered at least four kills in the win, led by a match-high 14 kills from junior Simone Lee. In addition to her fifth double-figure kill performance of the season, Lee also added four digs and three total blocks.
Redshirt freshman Tori Gorrell finished second on the team with eight kills, while also leading the blocking unit with six total blocks for her sixth consecutive multi-block outing.
Junior Ali Frantti tallied four kills and seven digs, while also finishing second on the team with five total blocks. Junior Haleigh Washington posted three blocks, while also leading the team with two aces.
Freshman Kendall White led the team with nine digs.
Junior Abby Detering paced the team to a .354 hitting percentage, dishing out 28 assists, in addition to a career-high tying five kills.
Penn State jumped out to a 5-2 advantage early in the opening frame, helped out by two kills apiece from Washington and Lee. A Siena kill broke up the streak, but the Nittany Lions regrouped with a 10-5 scoring streak to move ahead by as many as eight, 15-7, causing Siena to call its second timeout.
The Saints looked to get back on track, after a PSU service error following an exchange of kills made it 17-9. Penn State responded with a kill from Detering and a block from Lee and Washington to push the advantage to double figures, 19-9.
Siena answered with a kill and a block to arrive within eight, 19-11, but the Nittany Lions did not surrender another point, cruising to a 25-11 win in the first set.
The Nittany Lions got out to another fast start in the second set, using a 9-3 run to build an early lead. Siena battled back with a 4-2 stretch to trim the gap to four, 11-7. Penn State regrouped with a 6-1 stretch featuring a pair of kills from both Lee and Detering to send the Nittany Lion advantage to nine, 17-8.
Siena called a timeout and looked to stop the momentum with a kill out of the break, 17-9, but Penn State followed with four unanswered points to make it 21-9. A Nittany Lion service error broke up the rhythm, 21-10, but Penn State used another 4-0 run to close out a 25-10 win in the second set.
Trailing by one in the third set, 6-5, Lee sparked a 4-0 strike with a kill to lift the Nittany Lions ahead by three, 9-6, causing the Saints to call a timeout. Penn State continued to roll out of the break, widening the scoring streak to a 9-0 run as the Nittany Lions surged ahead, 14-6.
The Saints attempted to get back on track with a 4-2 stretch, 16-10, narrowing the deficit to six, 16-10. Redshirt sophomore Nia Reed answered with a kill to open up a 6-1 run that bolstered the Penn State advantage to as many as 10, 22-11. Siena called timeout looking to regroup, but the Nittany Lions came out of the break with a 3-1 strike to wrap up a 25-12 win in the third set to complete the sweep.
Penn State returns to action in the Syracuse Classic tomorrow, taking on Hofstra at 12:30 p.m. before squaring off against the Orange at 7 p.m. in the Women's Building.