Jan. 29, 2011

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Sophomore Jay Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) had 12 kills, five digs, four blocks (one solo) and three aces on Saturday evening in Lewis men's volleyball's 26-24, 25-19, 25-19 loss at No. 9 Penn State. Both teams are now 6-1.

Showing some of the resiliency they demonstrated on Friday against St. Francis, the Flyers rallied late in the first set. Lewis trailed Penn State 22-17 before advancing within one with four straight points. Lewis eventually tied it at 23 following a kill and an ace by Petty. Also reminiscent of Friday evening, the Flyers struggled keeping serves in as the Nittany Lions earned points 24 and 25 from Lewis service errors. A kill by Jace Olsen gave Penn State point 26 and the set.

The Nittany Lions led for the majority of second and third sets. Lewis made a late run in the third, cutting a 19-14 Penn State lead to 19-18, but Penn State finished the match on a 6-1 run.

"They're one of the better serving teams we've faced this year so we struggled to stay in system at times," head coach Dan Friend said. "But that's the next step, to play a higher level of volleyball and I think we learned some things tonight."

Lewis out-blocked Penn State 10.0 to 5.0. Junior Matt Gallik (Evergreen Park, Ill./Brother Rice) had five block assists go along with his seven kills. Junior Aaron Flick (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Edward) added five kills on seven swings with no errors.

Freshman BJ Boldog (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) totaled 35 assists.

"Jay did some nice things, both middles had some nice games and BJ was efficient," Friend said. "So there were some good things tonight; now we need to take that next step."

Penn State held a 35-26 edge in digs. Penn State out-hit the Flyers .355 to .258.

The Flyers host MSOE on Tuesday at Neil Carey Arena before hosting defending national champion Stanford on Friday. The match with Stanford will be aired live on Lakeshore Public Television.