Penn State Men’s Volleyball Earns Back-To-Back Sweeps Against Princeton

Story posted February 19, 2023 in CommRadio, Sports by Gia Sabatino

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 3 Nittany Lions took on the Princeton Tigers for the second time in the past 24 hours at Rec Hall.

On Friday night Penn State swept Princeton 3-0 in the EIVA opener, advancing their record to 10-1 on the season.

Not much changed when Saturday rolled around as the Lions swept Princeton for the second time this weekend.

Penn State setter Cole Bogner admired his squad’s preparation into playing the same team back to back.

“It is interesting, you think that they’re going to come back with a different scheme from what they did yesterday. We definitely take a look at film…. And then when we get into the match today, we kind of feel out what they want to take care of and what they want to shut down,” Bogner said. “You just find out early what they want to do and just go away from what they want.”

Sophomore middle blocker Owen Rose started the blue and white off strong with the first kill of the game.

Brothers, Henry and Brady Wedbush, of Princeton worked together to keep themselves alive early on in this game and throughout all three sets.

Opposite hitter Cal Fisher also made his presence known early on in the first with some stellar blocks off the bat.  He added a big time service ace to advance their lead to 15-11.

After some sloppy mistakes by Princeton, the blue and white were able to advance their lead to as much as seven and after that they pretty much took off from there.

After a service error by Princeton’s James Hartley, Penn State won the first set, 25-16. 

As the second set went underway, Princeton came out stronger than before.

The Lions were struggling to gain control until Cal Fisher tallied on his fourth and fifth kill of the game to steal the lead from the Tigers and extend their lead to three.

Senior Cal Fisher, had an even spread as he contributed to all aspects of the game. He had seven kills, one service ace, eight digs and five blocks for the Lions.

Surprisingly we hadn’t seen much from the black and orange’s Ben Harrington, who leads both teams in kills and service aces this season, which may have played a huge factor as to why Princeton couldn’t get a steady momentum going.

If no one else came to play, Omene sure did as he had 11 kills and 9 digs for the Tigers.

However, Penn State’s Toby Ezeonu was able to match Omene’s energy as he tallied on his fifth block of the game to advance Penn State’s lead 20-18.

After not seeing much from Michal Kowal, who is usually a huge difference maker for Penn State, he came out with a quick service ace just when the Lions needed it most as Princeton was making it impossible for them to slip away.

The Blue and White were able to extend their lead to 24-20 and put this second set away, making the Nittany Lions 2-0 in the match.

Omene answered back in the third tallying more and more kills, as he led both teams in kills the entire match.

It looked as if Princeton might keep themselves alive to see another set early in the third as the Wedbush brother duo contributed some teamwork but due to service error after service error, Penn State was able to advance their lead to 17-10.

All the Lions stepped up; Ezeonu, Fisher and Bogner added some more blocks and Wildman and Kowal sealed the deal with a couple more kills.

Although the black and orange attempted to make a comeback, Penn State simply wouldn’t allow it.

Looking for another sweep, the Lions certainly got it.

Penn State won the third set 25-17.

Princeton is a team that looks good on paper, comes to play and truly does give it their all but they are just no match for the Nittany Lions.

With the mindset and attitude of Penn State Coach Mark Pavlik it is no wonder this team has seen nothing but success all season.

“Our goal is to just keep getting better, to play as hard as we can for as long as we can every day that we come out and especially when we’re home,” Pavlik said. “I think the joy that these guys just exude for playing the game brings the crowd into it. We just want to keep doing that, it doesn't matter who is on the other side.”

One of the main things to take away from this game is the standout performance from Mid Blocker Toby Ezeonu as this six-foot-seven Junior has continued to improve game by game.

Ezeonu finished the game with six kills and nine blocks and a .429 hitting percentage.

Bogner had himself a night as he put up beautiful numbers with a perfect hitting percentage, 23 assists, five blocks, two digs and two kills  and a service ace.

The Nittany Lions have now improved their winning streak to five and will look to make it six in a row against NJIT on Feb. 24

Gia Sabatino is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email gms6168@psu.edu.