Match Stats
- #8 Stanford def. Penn State 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-13)
- Stanford moves to 11-7 (6-5 MPSF), Penn State falls to 12-7 (6-2 EIVA)
- Rec Hall, University Park, Pennsylvania
- Attendance: 857
- Box Score
The 8th-ranked Stanford Cardinal swept Penn State 3-0 on Saturday in Pennsylvania in the second game of their cross-country road trip. The victory included a season-high .444 hitting percentage.
The Cardinal were led offensively by Gabriel Vega, who had 10 kills and hit .33; and Clay Jones, who had 12 kills and hit .556 in the game. Stanford also out-dug Penn State 26-19.
Both teams played tight 8-man rotations in the game, and both wound up with almost the same number of kills. 12 Penn State service errors, including a back-breaking 6 in the opening set, sunk the Nittany Lions’ chances.
Penn State also had two players in double digures – Aidan Albrecht had 11 kills and a .381 hitting percentage and also chipped in 3 aces; Jalen Penrose had 10 kills but hit just .095.
Press Releases
Courtesy Stanford Athletics:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – In a complete team effort, the No. 8 Stanford men’s volleyball team defeated Lees-McRae, 25-16, 15-21, 22-25, 25-15, Friday at Rec Hall on the campus of Penn State University.
The Cardinal (10-7) held the Bobcats (5-11) to an .069 attack percentage, the second-lowest by a Stanford opponent this season, while racking up 12.0 blocks. Redshirt junior Clay Jones, who appeared in just his third match of 2017 after sustaining an injury in the season opener, matched his career-high with six blocks to lead all players.
Freshman Eric Beatty led all players with 10 kills, while Jones added eight kills and six digs. Sophomore Ryan Smith hit a career-high .462 with seven kills on 13 swings and just one error to go with two aces. Middle blockers Kevin Rakestraw and Chris Moore each recorded five kills and turned in five and four blocks, respectively.
Junior setter Kyle Dagostino matched his second-highest assist output of the season with 40. The Tampa, Florida native also posted five digs, was 4-0-4 offensively and tied his career-high with three aces. Redshirt junior Colin McCall appeared in three sets and registered three kills, four digs and an ace, while freshman Stephen Moye hit .429 with three kills and two blocks.
In total, 13 Stanford players took the court against Lees-McRae. Junior Jake Stuebner made his season debut, tallying a career-high seven digs while playing libero.
Lees-McRae was led by Karl Deichmann, who notched six kills on .625 hitting, while libero Keenan Freitas finished with a match-best 11 digs.
Stanford will face No. 15 Penn State on Saturday, March 4 at 4:30 p.m. PT in Rec Hall.
Courtesy Penn State Athletics:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 15 Penn State (12-7, 6-2) fell in straight sets (20-25, 17-25, 23-25) to No. 8 Stanford (11-7, 6-5) 3-0 Saturday night at Rec Hall in non-conference action to wrap up the Penn State Spring Break Tournament.
Penn State embarked on a late third-set rally to extend the game to a fourth set, but Stanford had other thoughts ending the 12-5 run for the Nittany Lions with a kill from Clay Jones to take the set 25-23 and the match 3-0.
Aidan Albrecht, the Mike Anderson Player of the Match, finished with a team-high 11 kills hitting .381 while adding three service aces and four digs on the night.
Luke Braswell led Penn State in assist with 32 while Royce Clemens and Matthew McLaren joined Albrecht recording four digs.
Down two sets to none and trailing Stanford 17-11, Coach Mark Pavlik inserted Frank Melvin into the game and the rally began.
Penn State scored on two of the next three plays with the latter being a service ace from Albrecht before Pavlik call his second timeout of the set to have a talk with his team.
Following the timeout, Penn State scored on three straight plays, a kill from Jalen Penrose, a Cardinal attack error and a kill from Matt Callaway followed by Stanford electing to take their first timeout of the set.
Back on the court from the timeout, Penn State continued to chisel away at the Stanford lead scoring on eight of the next 12 plays to find themselves within two of the Cardinals off a Stanford attack error.
Penn State would squeeze out one final point on an Albrecht service ace to bring the score to 24-23 in favor of the Cardinals.
Stanford capped the set on the next play as Clay Jones hammered away for the kill ending the epic rally and the match for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions will take a week off before returning to the court to take on Cal-Baptist Mar. 17 in Rec Hall with a match time set for 7 p.m. ET.
For more on Nittany Lion men’s volleyball, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateMVBall
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