WVU Stumbles vs. No. 6 Penn State

Saturday, August 26

Morgantown, W.Va.

7:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

2-1

Penn State

3-0

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Penn State	25	25	25	3
West Virginia	16	15	5	0

Photo by: Steven Prunty

August 26, 2017 09:33 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

By: Ashley Bailey

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Unable to match perennial contender Penn State, the West Virginia University volleyball team fell to the No. 6-ranked Nittany Lions, 3-0, in its first setback of the season on Saturday evening at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown. PSU took the match in set scores of 25-16, 25-15 and 25-5.

It marked the Mountaineers' first loss of the season, moving them to 2-1. They finished as the runner-up in the WVU Invitational, while Penn State (3-0) took home top honors. A crowd of 1,332 came out for the match.

"We've got a long way to go," coach Reed Sunahara said. "We want to be like Penn State. I told my team they play hard on every play. That's the difference between having a program with tradition and a program that's being built. The reason we play them is to see what the best team does, and I thought we got a good lesson tonight."

Sophomore outside hitter Payton Caffrey and freshman libero Alexa Hasting earned all-tournament team honors for their efforts.

Caffrey led WVU with nine kills in the match, adding a trio of digs as well. Senior middle blocker Mia Swanegan and sophomore right side Natania Levak each had seven kills. Levak hit a team-best .357 on the night. Swanegan led the blocking effort with five total blocks, while Levak and senior outside hitter Morgan Montgomery each added one.

Senior Emma Anderson and sophomore Erin Slinde split time at setter, each dishing out 11 assists. Slinde also had a trio of digs while Anderson added a pair of digs and a kill.

Hasting finished the night with five digs, as freshmen defensive specialists Lindsay Proctor and Ava Richards had four and three, respectively. Richards had both WVU service aces.

The Mountaineers posted 24 kills and three team blocks. Penn State hit .493 with 42 kills and just six errors in the win.

Simone Lee led the Nittany Lions with 12 kills and a pair of blocks, while Haleigh Washington had five blocks and seven kills.

Caffrey notched seven kills in the first set, but the Mountaineers couldn't match a hot Penn State offense and dropped the set 25-16. WVU battled at the start, as kills from Levak and Swanegan kept the Mountaineers within one at 6-5. The Nittany Lions scored three straight, then went on to post a 6-0 run that withstood two WVU timeouts to take a 20-12 lead over the Mountaineers. Caffrey found the court twice more, but it was too little, too late as West Virginia dropped the set, 25-16.

The Nittany Lions took a commanding lead early in the second set, using a 7-0 scoring run for a 10-2 advantage. Levak stopped the streak with a kill out of the timeout, and the Mountaineers then used back to back Swanegan blocks to come within four, down 11-7. However, they couldn't hold onto the momentum as the Nittany Lions tallied three in a row for a 22-14 lead before using back to back kills to take the set 25-15.

Penn State scored 18 straight in the third set, taking a 21-2 lead. A kill by Levak stopped the run and was followed by an ace from Richards, but the Mountaineers couldn't climb out of the hole. Back-to-back PSU kills gave the Nittany Lions the 25-5 triumph as WVU dropped the match, 3-0.

West Virginia heads to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for three matches next weekend. The Mountaineers face host No. 4-ranked Minnesota at 8 p.m. on Friday before taking on Tennessee (noon) and UTSA (4:30 p.m.) on Saturday.