A déjà vu win over Ohio State
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A déjà vu win over Ohio State

No. 3 Penn State closed out the series against No. 11 Ohio State with a win in four sets on Friday evening in Rec Hall (25-15, 25-16, 19-25, 25-14).

The Nittany Lions captured the win led by the duo of sophomore Haleigh Washington and redshirt senior Aiyana Whitney. Both guided the offense with 13 kills each and Whitney steered the defense with a team-high four blocks.

Senior Megan Courtney and sophomore Simone Lee followed close behind both totaling nine blocks each. Courtney also helped out on defense with 10 digs and two blocks.

Redshirt freshman Bryanna Weiskircher steadied the offense with 42 assists and freshman libero Keeton Holcomb led the defense with 12 digs.

The first set was tied up at 6-6 before Penn State produced a run and forced the Buckeyes to call a timeout. The two teams went back and forth with runs until the Nittany Lions reached a comfortable lead at 19-14 and secured a final 6-1 run to finish the first.

Penn State quickly jumped in the lead in the second set and sparked a game similar to the first set with the back and forth runs ultimately ending in another Penn State victory.

After the break, the Nittany Lions got a bit too comfortable with their five consecutive set wins over the Buckeyes. Again, they started the third match with the lead but gradually allowed Ohio State to tie things up at 8-8. They went point-for-point until the score was 13-13.

The Buckeyes made a break for it with a 3-0 run followed by a 4-2 run after a Penn State timeout. At 19-15, the Nittany Lions were forced to use their second timeout. Again Ohio State responded to the break with a 5-2 run and held on to close the match at 25-19.

The fourth set started out close again until Penn State gained a comfortable lead at 18-13 and caused Ohio State to call a timeout. The Buckeyes managed one more point before Penn State ended the match with seven unanswered points for its second defeat over Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions will travel to Maryland on Thursday evening to go head-to-head with the Terps at 8 p.m. and stay on the road into Friday as they meet up with Rutgers at 7 p.m.