Penn State Upends Ball State
UNIVERSITY PARK- No. 9 Penn State comes into this match against the Ball State Cardinals with a 3-1 record. For Penn State, Aidan Albrecht comes into the match leading Penn State in kills with 49 kills.
In the first set, it started off with a service error by Ball State. Over the course of the set, Ball State took a timeout while Penn State had a four-set lead at 14-10 in the first set. More so, after a few more sets of trading points, Penn State took another four-set lead which put the set at 13-17 in favor of Penn State.
Furthermore, after a two-set comeback for Ball State, Penn State got out to a five-set lead at 15-20. But then, Ball State closes the gap with a two-set come back to get the overall set score at 17-20. More so, after going back and forth a couple sets in between Penn State ultimately won the first set 25-21 and Jalen Penrose lead the team with five kills and not too far behind him was Aidan Albrecht with four kills to close the first set.
In the second set, Penn State got out to an early 3-0 lead via an attack error, service ace and kill. The Service ace was for Penn States’ Mitch Weiler. However, to no avail, Ball State started a mini-comeback to narrow it to 2-3 via a service error and attack error.
Ball State during the set managed to have their first of two big leads with a 9-7 lead but then they managed to get an even bigger lead to a four-set lead at 12-8 and that would be Ball States’ biggest lead of the set until. Penn State took a timeout when the set was 20-18 Ball State. Ball State won the set 25-21.
After the ten-minute intermission, Penn State lead with 13 service errors to Ball States’ nine.
In the third set, the set got a crucial 4-4 tie but later on, Penn State got out to their biggest lead 17-21 via a Matt Walsh service error. The lead got bigger as Penn State extended it to 18-23 with a service ace from Jason Donorovich. Penn State won the set via a service ace from Jalen Penrose. Penn State leads the match 2-1.
The fourth set started out with a service error from Ball States’ Parker Swartz. However, Penn State went on a 5-set run to put the set at 11-6 via a kill by Jalen Penrose of Penn State. Penn State had another big lead at 19-15 before Ball State started a four-set comeback then eventually took the seat when they went on a 12-straight set win to win the fourth set 25-23.
In the fifth and final set, Penn State went on a twelve-point run to win the fifth set 15-10 and win the overall match 3-2.
Coach Pavlik, “the men’s game rhythm is much different now than it ever has been, and it is certainly much different than the women’s game. If Jalen serves three balls out of bounds in three consecutive service terms yes, they are siding out, but they are siding out on our terms…hopefully, as the season moves along we are going to be down to maybe three to five missed serves a game instead of you know four to six that we are at right now you got to work hard to get an offensive rhythm anymore and I think teams are seeing that….”
Tom Johnston is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email taj5211@psu.edu.
