The Penn State Nittany Lions fall to the Minnesota Gophers in 3 tight sets (23-25, 23-25, 22-25)

Posted on by DigNittany Staff

Despite the heroic effort of Kennedy Martin, who scored 28.5 points, 26 kills, 1 ace, 3 block assist with 0.447 hitting percentage, the Nittany Lions suffer their 11th loss of the season in a sweep in Maturi Pavillion. No hitter aside from Martin exceeded 5, and in fact, the rest of team combined for only 15 kills.

Starting slowly has been a season-long issue with the Nittany Lions; however, this match was about closing out sets. Despite the Nittany Lions slightly edging out the Gophers in scoring points (52.5-50), attacks (41-40) and blocking (8-6), this was not enough to account for the errors the Nittany Lions committed (17 hitting errors, 14 service errors in 3 sets).

Kennedy Martin. Photo by Ethan Kasales.

Kennedy Martin accounted for the lion’s share of the scoring with 28.5 coming from 26 kills, 1 ace and 3 blocks. Emmi Sellman (5 kills, 1 block) and Alexis Ewing (4 kills, 4 block assist) pitched in 6 points each. Martin led the team in digs with 8 while Jordan Hopp led the team in blocks with 5. The team hit 0.209, but the team minus Martin, hit 0.045.

The Nittany Lions suffered from setting and defensive miscues throughout the match and were further hindered by 14 service errors in 3 sets. The Golden Gophers outdug the Nittany Lions and overall played a cleaner game.  With this loss the two teams are now tied in the B1G with a record of 8-7. Penn State goes down to 14-11 overall while Minnesota improves to 18-8.

The Nittany Lions will attempt to bounce back in a rematch against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday at Rec Hall.

Box Score

Match Details

Penn St. Minnesota
Set K E TA % K E TA %
1 15 3 37 0.324 15 4 29 0.379
2 15 9 43 0.140 13 6 35 0.200
3 11 5 35 0.171 12 7 31 0.161
Total 41 17 115 0.209 40 17 95 0.242
Penn St. Minnesota
Points 52.5 50
Kills 41 40
Aces 3 4
Blocks 8.5 6
Assists 41 34
Digs 35 46

Match Leaders

Penn St. – Leaders
Kills Kennedy Martin (26), Emmi Sellman (5), Alexis Ewing (4), Maggie Mendelson (4)
Aces Kennedy Martin (1), Addie Lyon (1), Jordan Hopp (1)
Blocks Jordan Hopp (5), Alexis Ewing (4), Kennedy Martin (3)
Assists Addie Lyon (34), Gillian Grimes (4), Emmi Sellman (1), Ava Falduto (1), Jocelyn Nathan (1)
Digs Kennedy Martin (8), Gillian Grimes (7), Emmi Sellman (4), Ava Falduto (4), Jocelyn Nathan (4), Addie Lyon (4)
Minnesota – Leaders
Kills Julia Hanson (14), Carly Gilk (8), Kelly Kinney (7)
Aces Kelly Kinney (2), Stella Swenson (1), Julia Hanson (1)
Blocks Jordan Taylor (6), Julia Hanson (2), Carly Gilk (1), Kelly Kinney (1), Stella Swenson (1)
Assists Stella Swenson (28), Carly Gilk (2), Kate Thibault (2)
Digs McKenna Garr (17), Carly Gilk (10), Kate Thibault (6)

Penn State Stats

Attack Set Serve Block Def Rec
# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
18 Kennedy Martin 3 26 5 47 0.447 0 0 1 3 0 3 0 8 0 0 28.5
13 Emmi Sellman 3 5 5 22 0.000 1 0 0 4 1 0 0 4 0 0 6
27 Alexis Ewing 3 4 1 19 0.158 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 0 0 6
5 Jordan Hopp 3 2 2 6 0.000 0 0 1 2 0 5 0 1 0 0 5.5
44 Maggie Mendelson 3 4 2 14 0.143 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 5
7 Addie Lyon 3 0 2 6 -0.333 34 0 1 4 0 0 1 4 0 0 1
4 Karis Willow 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.5
3 Gillian Grimes 3 0 0 1 0.000 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 7 0 1 0
11 Jocelyn Nathan 3 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 0
2 Ava Falduto 3 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0
9 Lexi Gin 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Gabrielle Nichols 2 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 41 17 115 0.209 41 0 3 14 1 15 1 35 0 4 52.5

Minnesota Stats

Attack Set Serve Block Def Rec
# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
22 Julia Hanson 3 14 4 34 0.294 1 0 1 1 0 2 0 5 0 0 16
33 Kelly Kinney 3 7 5 21 0.095 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 9.5
7 Carly Gilk 3 8 4 17 0.235 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 10 0 1 8.5
15 Jordan Taylor 3 5 1 10 0.400 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 8.5
20 Lourdes Myers 3 4 1 8 0.375 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 4
1 Stella Swenson 3 2 2 5 0.000 28 0 1 2 0 1 0 5 0 0 3.5
4 Lauren Crowl 3 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Kate Thibault 3 0 0 0 0.000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0
10 Georgia Lee 3 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 McKenna Garr 3 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 17 0 1 0
Total 40 17 95 0.242 34 0 4 7 1 10 1 46 0 2 50

Box Score

Photo of Maturi Pavilion courtesy of Wikipedia.