Springfield, Mass., Feb. 11, 2006 ¨C The 11th-ranked Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team swept Stanford in three games (30-22, 30-26, 30-25) Saturday night to close out play in the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Mass. The Nittany Lions improve to 6-4 while the Cardinal fall to 4-10.
Senior middle hitter Nate Meerstein (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was virtually unstoppable, posting 10 kills on an errorless 12 attempts to hit a season-high .833. Senior opposite Matt Proper (Guys Mills, Pa.) led the Lions with 13 kills as senior Kevin Wentzel (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and freshman Max Holt (Cincinnati, Ohio) each chipped in eight kills. As a team, Penn State attacked at a .400 clip while holding Stanford to hitting .180.
Senior setter Dan O¡¯Dell (Rochester, N.Y.) dished out 45 assists and added three kills on five attacks to hit .600 to aid the offense. Junior libero Aaron Smith (Forest, Va.) led the squad with a match-high five digs as Wentzel and freshman Matt Anderson (West Seneca, N.Y.) each chipped in four digs.
Penn State outblocked Stanford, 13.0 to 5.0, led by Meerstein with seven, including six solo efforts. Proper, Holt and Anderson all added two blocks in the winning effort.
Ben Reddy led Stanford with 18 kills as Jeremy Jacobs directed the offense with 25 assists. Chris Ahlfeldt topped the squad with two blocks.
Penn State remains on the road, traveling to St. Francis on Friday, Feb. 17 at 7:00 p.m. The Nittany Lions return home on Friday, Feb. 24 to host Rutgers-Newark at 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, Feb. 25, the Nittany Lions host George Mason at 1:00 p.m.
For more information on the Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.
