No. 19 Penn State men’s volleyball (5-12, 2-2 EIVA) was swept by No. 3 Hawaii (18-1) in its second game of the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Saturday morning.

After being swept in its first game of the tournament, the Nittany Lions were dominated in the first set, but played a very competitive second set. However, they could not capitalize on their opportunities to win the set, and this led to a dominating third set victory for the Rainbow Warriors. With Penn State losing its 12th game of the season, it now has more losses than in the last two seasons combined.

How It Happened

Penn State won the first point of the first set on a kill by Michael Schwob before Hawaii got on the board with a kill of its own. This kill gave the Rainbow Warriors momentum as they went on to win five consecutive points to take an early 6-1 lead. This forced Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik in hopes of cooling off Hawaii’s momentum.

Out of the timeout, the Rainbow Warriors extended their run to seven before Will Kuhns’s kill on the next point ended it. Both teams exchanged points before Kurt Nusterer’s attack error decreased the deficit for the Nittany Lions to four. However, Hawaii continued to seize its momentum and went on a 5-0 run to take extend its lead to nine and forced Penn State to take another timeout.

Both teams traded blows for the next four points after the timeout. A media timeout occurred right after as Hawaii held a 15-6 lead. After Hawaii’s Louis Sakanoko recorded a service error out of the timeout, the Nittany Lions could not stop the bleeding as the Rainbow Warriors won four consecutive points to increase their lead to double-digits.

After Penn State won back-to-back points, Hawaii returned the favor to take a 21-9 lead. Both teams went back and forth for the next four points before the Nittany Lions won consecutive points to trim their deficit to 10. On the next point, Kuhns committed a service error to give the Rainbow Warriors set point and they converted on their first opportunity as Justin Todd, Tread Rosenthal, and Sakanoko recorded a block assist to win the first set 25-13.

The second set got underway with Rosenthal recording a service ace for the Rainbow Warriors before Matthew Luoma’s kill got the Nittany Lions on the board. Both teams traded blows for the next four points as the deadlock stayed intact.

Hawaii recorded back-to-back kills to take a two-point lead. After Kainoa Wade recorded a service error on the next point, the Rainbow Warriors continued to dominate this match as they went on a 3-0 run to extend their lead to four.

Both teams went back and forth for the next four points before Penn State won back-to-back points to decrease its deficit to two. This back-and-forth affair continued for the next four points as Hawaii’s lead stayed intact. However, the Nittany Lions refused to go away and responded with a 4-0 run to take their first lead of the set. They increased their lead to two by winning two of the next three points before a media timeout occurred.

After the media timeout, both teams exchanged kills for the next 10 points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. However, the Rainbow Warriors responded by winning consecutive points to tie the set at 20. This deadlock was short-lived as the Nittany Lions regained the lead right away by recording back-to-back kills which forced Hawaii to take a timeout.

Out of the timeout, both teams exchanged points before the Rainbow Warriors won back-to-back points to tie the set at 23. This forced Pavlik to take a timeout as the set started to slip away for the Nittany Lions. Hawaii recorded a critical block assist out of the timeout to give it set point and led to Penn State to take another timeout.

Adrien Roure recorded a huge kill for the Rainbow Warriors after the timeout to win the second set 25-23.

Both teams traded blows for the first four points of the third set before Kuhns’s kill gave Penn State its first lead of the set. After Ofeck Hazan’s kill tied the set at three, the Nittany Lions won consecutive points to take a two-point lead.

However, the Rainbow Warriors showed their resilience and went on a 3-0 run to regain the lead. After Luoma’s kill tied the set at six, Hawaii continued to seize its momentum and won back-to-back points to take an 8-6 lead. This continued to be a trend as the Rainbow Warriors won three of the next four points to extend their lead to four. This forced Penn State to take a timeout.

The Nittany Lions could not stop the bleeding as Hawaii won four consecutive points after the timeout. This allowed it to increase its lead to eight and led to a media timeout as things started to get ugly for it.

Out of the media timeout, the Rainbow Warriors extended its run to seven before an attack error by Hazan ended this run. Both teams exchanged the next four points before another kill by Roure gave Hawaii a 21-10 lead and forced Pavlik to take a timeout.

Out of the timeout, both teams traded blows for the next four points before a kill by Rosenthal gave the Rainbow Warriors match point. Hawaii was able to capitalize on this opportunity as Kuhns recorded an attack error that allowed it to finish off the third set 25-12.

Takeaways

• The Nittany Lions will rue not converting on their chances to win the second set. After being two points away from winning the set, they were not able to win another point after as they allowed the Rainbow Warriors to go on a 4-0 to finish off the second set. This was a huge crusher for Penn State as Hawaii went on to dominate the third set right after.
• Hitting percentage continues to be a huge struggle for Penn State as it had a hitting percentage of .049 compared to Hawaii’s .397. Also, Penn State had 11 more attack errors and 14 less kills than Hawaii.
• Hawaii’s duo of Adrien Roure and Louis Sakanoko were the catalysts in this sweep as they combined for 24 of the team’s 39 kills. They were very efficient as well as they only committed three errors on 39 total attacks.

What’s Next?

Penn State will look to avoid going winless in the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational when it faces No. 12 Ball State at 10 p.m. on Saturday, March 15, in its final game of the tournament.