42 kills lead No. 7 Penn State over King University in straight sets

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - 42 kills from Penn State lead the No. 7 Nittany Lions over King University in straight sets on Saturday afternoon in Rec Hall.

Penn State came out of the gate strong, using its power and size advantage to capture 14 kills in the first set, a 25-16 victory.

The second set featured sloppy play from each side, leading to the Tornado keeping the second set closer than the blue and white wanted. Following a service ace from Zach Daniels of King University, it was 18-16 Penn State.

The blue and white then got kills for five of its following seven points, finishing the second set with an impressive 17 kills and a 25-19 victory.

King University changed its gameplan in the third set, attacking the ball whenever they could rather than trying to set up the perfect kill, and it worked as through 14 points, it was knotted up at seven.

The Nittany Lions then went to work and pulled away, capturing the third and final set by a score of 25-16.

Graduate student John Kerr led the Nittany Lions with 15 kills, including seven in the decisive third set.

“I think it's just Schowb’s ability to adapt to what I like,” Kerr said when asked about his success killing this season. “ I think a lot of my success has been attributed to him.”

Micheal Schowb finished with a game-high 37 assists, while Toby Ezeonu joined Kerr in the double-digit kill club with 11.

Warren Davis led the way for King University, accumulating 45% of the Tornado kills with nine.

With the win, Penn State moves to 3-0-1 on the season, while King University falls to 0-2.

Before the game, Penn State held a moment of silence for the death of Penn State men's and women's volleyball founder Tom Tait.

“Our entire Penn State men’s volleyball alumni will miss him,” head coach Mark Pavlik said.“We will structure something throughout the year as a remembrance, and hopefully, we get a chance to put a celebration of his life together surrounding one of our matches over the next couple of months.”

Next up for the Nittany Lions is the First Point Collegiate Challenge in Austin, Texas. Penn State will play No. 8 Stanford on Friday, Jan. 19, and No. 1 UCLA on Saturday, Jan 20.

“I think it’s gonna be a great opportunity in January for us to see where we’re at and what we need to do better so we can better prepared for the end of April and beginning of May,” said Pavlik.

Ben Palillo is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email bgp5079@psu.edu.