Team Effort Leads Nittany Lions to Three Set Sweep Over Buckeyes
A crowd of 1,700 came to support the No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions as they took down the visiting No. 16 Ohio State Buckeyes in a Tuesday night showdown at Rec Hall. It took a full team effort by the Nittany Lions to eliminate the Buckeyes in three straight sets.
Penn State (21-3, 9-2 B1G) took the first set 25-15 after a hard fought beginning led to a powerful surge at the end for the Lions. The set began as a back and forth battle, but ended with Penn State pulling away after some costly errors by Ohio State.
Head coach Russ Rose was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We didn’t have any hitting errors, I think that really set the tempo for the match,” said Rose. “I thought we had three unforced errors, I mean four errors a game, that’s awfully good. That means the other team has to earn 21 points per game.”
Errors seemed to be a key focus to the game. Ohio State committed 23 errors as opposed to Penn State’s seven; five of which were in the second set.
Micha Hancock came out of the gate quickly getting three kills in as many chances in the first set, but quickly cooled off.
“She scored early and stopped scoring,“ said Rose. “Micah didn’t have a great night serving, but that just means she’s going to serve good in Columbus.”
The second set was a completely different story compared to the first. Ohio State came out strong and capitalized on each of Penn State’s mistakes, going up 7-2 quickly on five errors by the Nittany Lions.
“A lot of times you are fighting yourself because we contributed to them getting a lot of those early points,” added coach Rose.
Penn State did make a comeback, though, after cutting down on their miscues and creating their own opportunities off of Ohio State mistakes. The Buckeyes would finish the second set giving up nine points to errors. The Nittany Lions seemed to really come together and show some resiliency after the early setback.
“I really think we have more energy and we’ve been showing that with our 3-0 wins,” said Hancock.
Freshman Haleigh Washington continues to shine for Penn State and provides great energy to a veteran team.
“It’s great, I mean those are the types of players you want to play with. They are the ones that will fight when things are rough,” said Hancock of her freshman teammate.
The third set would prove to be much easier than the second, with Penn State handely winning. The Nittany Lions would go back to the power play that demonstrated earlier in the first set of the match, recording 13 kills and adding another block.
Penn State will face Ohio State again in Columbus on Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m.
“It’s one thing to watch film on a team but getting to play them you get more of a feel,” said senior Lacy Fuller.
Mark Fagnani is a junior, majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact, email him at maf5635@psu.edu.
