STATE COLLEGE, Pa., February 13, 2002 - Fifth-ranked Penn State downed East Stroudsburg in three games (30-27, 30-14, 30-15) Wednesday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions push their win-streak to eight and improve to 9-2 on the season while East Stroudsburg falls to 3-6 overall.
Junior middle Zach Slenker (Dallastown, Pa.), junior outside Carlos Guerra (Tamaulipus, Mexico) and junior opposite Zeljko Koljesar (Kitchener, Ontario) all recorded eight kills for Penn State while Norm Keil (St. James, N.Y.) added six and Kevin Hodge (Dublin, Ohio), Rhonee Rojas (Mililani, Hawaii) and Alex Weaver (Monroeville, Pa.) all notched five. Overall, Penn State tallied 24 more kills than East Stroudsburg (50-26).
Leading Penn State in blocking was Slenker with four and Keil and sophomore Nate Matthews (Rochester, N.Y.) with three. As a team, Penn State outblocked the Warriors 10.5-6 and outdug them as well, 22-16. Leading the way defensively for the Lions was sophomore libero Ricky Mattei (San Juan, Puerto Rico) with six and Hodge with four.
Again splitting time directing the Lion offense were senior José Quiñones (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) and Matthews, who tallied 27 and 16 assists, respectively. As a team, Penn State outhit the Warriors .500 to .052 for the match while limiting East Stroudsburg to hitting negative in the second and third stanzas (-.154,-.160).
The Lions take to the road to face NJIT on Friday, Feb. 15 at 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, Feb. 16, the Lions travel to Rutgers-Newark to take on the Scarlet Raiders. Match time is also set for 7:00 p.m.
For complete game statistics, visit the men's volleyball homepage at www.GoPSUsports.com
