March 10, 2010

Final Stats

Irvine, Calif. – No. 9 Penn State outlasted No. 11 UC Irvine (33-31, 30-25, 26-30, 28-30, 16-14) in a non-conference match at the Bren Center Wednesday.

Penn State improves to 14-2 overall, while UCI goes to 11-11 on the year. The Anteaters are still looking for their first five-set victory, going 0-6 this year.

UCI outside hitter Kevin Carroll recorded a career-high 29 kills in the loss. Opposite Carson Clark totaled 27 kills and a team-best 15 digs, while outside hitter Jordan DuFault had 18 kills, 11 digs and two aces.

Middle blocker Kevin Wynne added nine kills and a match-high seven total blocks. Anthony Spittle tallied 42 set assists and Ian Wynne recorded 31 set assists.

Penn State’s Will Price put away a match-high 30 kills, while Max Lipsitz had 25 kills and hit .632 (25-1-38) from the middle. Joe Sunder recorded 14 kills and Nick Turko had 10 kills for the Nittany Lions. Edgardo Goas totaled 81 set assists, while Dennis Del Valle had 25 digs.

The first set saw 14 ties and Penn State had three set points until the Nittany Lions were able to use kills by Will Price and Nick Turko to win the set 33-31.  Will Price had 11 kills, while hitting .846 to lead Penn State.

Penn State took control of the second set with a 5-1 run to go up 22-18.

The Anteaters closed to 23-22 on the strength of three Kevin Carroll kills, but PSU would score the next two and go on to win 30-25.

UCI led 24-18 on back-to-back kills by Carson Clark and Jordan DuFault.

The Nittany Lions would rally going on a 5-1 spurt to narrow the ‘Eater lead to 25-23. UCI would use a couple of kills by Clark and DuFault and a PSU attack error to end the set, 30-26.

With the score tied at 24-24 UCI used a block by Bryan Simmons and Kevin Carroll paired with a kill by Carroll to take a 26-24 lead. UCI would not relinquish the lead as Clark put away the game-winner, 30-28.

Penn State jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and continued to lead 5-2. UCI had consecutive kills by Carroll to knot the score at 8 all then would take their first lead 10-8 on two blocks. Penn State would tie the score at 11-11 on a Max Lipsitz kill. The teams would trade points until Penn State had two solo blocks by Will Price to end the match, 16-14.

UCI will take a break for finals and return to action hosting UCLA March 27 at the Bren Center.