Bounce Back

After a tough loss to Michigan State Friday night, Penn State came back with a 4-set win against No. 15 ranked Michigan the following night. The familiar star players delivered double digit kills at the net and game saving digs across the court. Amongst the stars was Deja McClendon, who dominated offensively and defensively, leading the team with 15 kills and 13 digs. Also, Katie Slay towered over Michigan’s hitters with a total of nine blocks at the net.

The first set consisted of a firing back and forth of points. The Nittany Lions were down 17-14 until Gonzalez delivered an always-exciting ace to begin Penn State’s rally to the top. A few serving errors by Michigan and consecutive kills by PSU, forced Michigan into two time out huddles and pushed Penn State to a 25-16 win to start the night.

With a blur of serving errors, bits of miscommunication, and uncharacteristic calls against Penn State, the team fell to a 20-25 loss in the second set. Michigan’s Molly Toon took her turn as kill leader with 5 kills in the second set and making the match tied at 1-1.

After a quick intermission, PSU and Michigan went into a back and forth volley to a score of 8-8. Penn State then rallied a seven points streak, which was the deciding factor of the set. The final score was 25-19, leaving the match score at 2-1. In the final set, Penn State didn’t let the Wolverines come close to winning as they took an early lead and carried the momentum to the end with a score of 25-17.

The team will travel to Indiana this Thursday and take on the Hoosiers at 7 p.m. in Bloomington.