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Purdue Fort Wayne
Penn State
No. 1 Penn State survives IPFW
2/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Feb. 21, 2009
Box Score
Fort Wayne, IN – The IPFW Mastodons (7-4) came out firing against the No. 1 Nittany Lions of Penn State (11-1) Saturday night. Despite a set two IPFW victory, Penn State prevailed and won 3-1 (30-27, 30-32, 30-28, 30-22).
Sophomore outside Darryl Shank pounded a career-high 25 kills (25-9-49) in the effort, while freshman outside Phil Peterson also collected a career-high with 17 markers. Sophomore Ben Duckworth added 15, while juniors Oliver Kook and Nathaniel Berg had eight and five respectively. Corey Stewart snuck in two kills at setter.
Stewart logged a career-high 47 assists in the match, but had to leave in the beginning points of the fourth set after re-agitating an injury. Freshman Dan Mader came in and collected 12 assists as the match ended. Junior Matt Pliske shoveled 11 digs for the ‘Dons while Shank helped out with seven.
IPFW scored the first point in each of the four sets Saturday night, but jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the first frame. IPFW led until the Nittany Lions tied things up at 8-8 with a service ace from Ryan Sweitzer. The ‘Dons kept things close midway through the set until Penn State took off with a 4-0 run to push the lead to 17-14. PSU maintained at least a two point cushion until Duckworth recorded a kill and a block to close the gap at 26-25. Penn State retaliated with a kill from Max Holt and a block to all but end the set. The ‘Dons were called for four hits at 29-27, and Holt ended the first set with a kill, 30-27.
Set two began with a kill from Kook but saw the ‘Dons fall behind early. After being tied at 3-3, the Nittany Lions recorded a kill and a Mastodon error pushed the score to 5-3. IPFW was the down for the majority of the set and even trailed by as many as four at 18-14 until a late push by the ‘Dons tied the game at 24-24 forcing Penn State coach Mark Pavlik to call a timeout. Peterson knotted things up at 26-26 after the timeout but two kills by Penn State’s Joe Sunder gave PSU the lead at 29-28. Duckworth responded with a kill 29-29, which was followed by a Nittany Lion attack error. Stewart found Kook at middle for the games last kill, and the ‘Dons held on 32-30.
 Freshman Phil Peterson recorded a career-high 17 kills Saturday night against Penn State  |
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After the intermission the ‘Dons came out firing and forced a quick Penn State timeout at 4-1. The Nittany Lions wasted no time getting back to business tying the third set at 5-5. From there IPFW called its own timeout and regained the lead on a kill from Shank at 6-5. Back to back kills from Holt and an IPFW attack error gave PSU the lead back at 16-15. Duckworth knocked in a kill but the ‘Dons had no answer for Sunder who recorded a kill and an ace opening up a lead. IPFW tied things up at 25-25 and even took the lead at 27-26, but three straight Penn State kills gave them the set point. Will Price connected on a kill giving the Nittany Lions game three 30-28.
Set four began with Shank connecting on a kill and the ‘Dons kept things close until 11-11 when an IPFW attack error and a Penn State kill gave PSU the two point lead. A Penn State service error was followed by a huge block from Kook and Duckworth tying the frame at 13-13. Shortly thereafter however, Penn State went on a 4-0 run to lead 19-15. IPFW attempted to climb back with consecutive kills from Shank and Duckworth at 21-20, but Penn State went on a 6-1 run all but ending the set and match. Back-to-back attack errors ended the match.
Penn State was led by Max Lipsitz with 22 kills and Max Holt with 18. Will Price recorded 14 kills in the effort. Edgardo Goas led Penn State with 60 assists.
IPFW will return to action Friday, February 27 when the team travels to Muncie, IN for a 7:30 PM showdown with MIVA foe Ball State University.
~Dons~
