No. 20 Penn State finds its footing to take care of Merrimack in four sets

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - Penn State returned for its second match at Rec Hall for the season against Merrimack taking care of the Warriors three sets to one.

The Nittany Lions managed to shake off some early match rust and finished strong to get their fifth win on the season.

The first set saw the Nittany Lions and Warriors trade the first 22 points of the frame before the Nittany Lions would seize the lead on an Owen Rose ace.

Penn State would not surrender the rest of the set as two kills from Will Kuhns down the stretch would help secure the 25-19 win. Kuhns would lead the team with 15 kills earning himself a double double and player of the match honors.

“Will is Will,” Head Coach Mark Pavlik said when asked about his stellar performance. “One of the best attributes any player can have is to be consistent with who you are and what you can do.”

Kuhns is averaging 3.33 kills per set this year which only validates Pavlik’s point even more.

Set two is where the Nittany Lions got into some trouble. The Warriors would take advantage of four aces in the frame along with six kills from Kai Vogel who also had the game winner to allow his team to pull even with a 25-20 victory.

Vogel had the most kills in the match with 16 on the night.

From that point on, the Nittany Lions found a different gear and stayed there for the rest of the match.

Set three saw Penn State pull away from Merrimack. With the score tied 8-8 early, the Nittany Lions went on a 4-0 scoring run which they would build upon to reach the 25-18 final tally. Four kills from Kuhns including the set winner paired with aces from he, Miller Trubey and Michael Schwob allowed the Nittany Lions to put all the pressure on the Warriors heading into the fourth set.

“Schowb’s last two matches and the whole season really has been doing well at delivering me the ball, I think we have had a lot of success out of the back row too,” said Kuhns on his recent uptick in performance. “I’m getting really good swings and I’ve just been fortunate enough to be putting them away.”

What would end up being the final set in this game started just like how the other three did. Back and forth.

But Sean Harvey would get two straight kills to kickoff a 6-0 Penn State scoring run to put the Nittany Lions up for good at 12-7. A 4-0 scoring run late in the frame would help get the Nittany Lions a 25-16 win, taking the match 3-1 over the Warriors.

Harvey and Rose would be the big players in that match clinching set as they would account for eight of the 13 kills the Nittany Lions had with Harvey getting five as well and Rose adding three. Harvey also added an ace during that time as well.

When asked about his six kill and five block performance on the night, Rose praised his teammates. “When everyone else does their job pretty well it makes mine pretty easy,” said the redshirt junior.

The win gets the Nittany Lions to 5-8 of the season as they set their sights on Grand Canyon for a weekend series on March 8th and 9th. Their next matches in Rec Hall are towards the end of the month however as Charlston comes to town on March 28th and 29th.

Chase Fisher is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email ctf5198@psu.edu.