LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree's men's volleyball team handed Penn State their second loss of the season in back-to-back days in four sets with scores of 25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 28-26.
The Nittany Lions opened the first set on a four-point run. The Bearcats would shortly respond with a three-point run, tying the score at 5-5. A McKendree attack error would end this run, giving Penn State a point and the serve back. The Bearcats immediately went on another three-point run to take the lead for the first time at 8-6, and never gave it up. The Nittany Lions would earn a kill, retaining the serve, but McKendree followed this with a third three-point run. Penn State would immediately respond with a three-point run of its own and ultimately brought the score within one point. With the score at 12-11, back-to-back kills from redshirt senior outside hitter
Sam Hoskin and an ace from senior middle blocker
Rolen Lively resulted in another three-point run by the Bearcats. McKendree would soon find itself on another run of four points, giving itself a six-point advantage over the Nittany Lions. An immediate three-point run was followed by Penn State. As the Nittany Lions tried to make a late push, the lead the Bearcats forged was too much to overcome, resulting in McKendree taking set one.
In the second set Penn State came out like they had something to prove. The Nittany Lions led as much as eight and never trailed the entirety of the set. Penn State went on back-to-back runs of three and four points to take early control at 3-8. The Bearcats could not seem to find the momentum to go on a run until the score was at 9-17, and McKendree would go on their first run of three points to cut the Nittany Lions' lead to five points. The Bearcats would make a late push on set point for Penn State by going on another three-point run, but the deficit was too great for McKendree to overcome, allowing the Nittany Lions to take the second set and even the match at one set a piece.
Set three was a back-and-forth battle from start to finish, with neither team allowing the other to go on a single run. There were four ties, and the Bearcats did not trail to Penn State once. McKendree's biggest lead was three points, with the Bearcats ending the set up three points and going up 2-1 over the Nittany Lions.
With Penn State trying to extend the match to five sets, they came out fighting in the fourth set, and it came down to the wire. The Nittany Lions went on a three-point run to take an early advantage over McKendree at 3-5. Back-to-back kills from graduate outside hitter
Tyler Tripp ended this run and evened the score at five all. With the score at 7-9, the Bearcats went on a four-point run that was highlighted by a Hoskin kill that would put McKendree up two points. With the score at 16-12, Penn State would go on a three-point run to put them back within one point in a must-win set for the Nittany Lions. The Bearcats answered with a four-point run. With their backs against the wall, Penn State would go on a four-point run of their own to bring the score back within one once more. The Nittany Lions would go on one last run of three-points to obtain set-point at 23-24, but McKendree fought off the set point. After three ties past the 25-point mark, the Bearcats were able to score back-to-back points off a kill from Lively and Hoskin to end the set and match.
Hoskin led the way offensively, recording 16 with only two errors and a hitting percentage of .400. Hoskin was followed by Tripp, who notched 14 kills, and Lively with 13. Junior setter
Nate Flayter tabbed 43 assists.
Defensively, Tripp led the back court with 11 digs while Hoskin and graduate libero
Yadiel Diaz picked up nine and eight digs, respectively. Flayter followed, adding seven. At the net, Lively, senior opposite
Bryce Wetjen, and redshirt sophomore middle blocker
Will Klimek tabbed three blocks each.
UP NEXT: The Bearcats continue their home stand next weekend (1/30-31) with Missouri S&T and Rockhurst.
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