UNIVERSITY PARK — One down, five to go for the Nittany Lions.
The Penn State women’s volleyball team used its superior physical skills to put away a pesky, scrappy Liberty team in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
“It definitely feels good,” said sophomore opposite Ariel Scott, who had a match-high 16 kills on .452 hitting. “Every win counts. No matter what team it is, every team is going to play hard and as we’ve seen so far in the tournament, anyone can win.”
The 25-16, 25-16, 25-16 victory was the start the Nittany Lions were looking to get in search of a fifth straight national championship. Step No. 2 comes at 7:30 p.m. today — in the final match of the season in Rec Hall — when they face Delaware, a 3-1 winner over American in Friday’s first match.
“You’re always pleased to get that first match out of the way,” Penn State coach Russ Rose said. “You never know how you’re going to play, you never know especially with a team with as many young people as we have, I can’t pretend like I know exactly what’s going to happen because I’ve gone four months of not knowing what’s going to happen.”
The offensive production tailed off behind Scott for the Nittany Lions (24-7), with Maddie Martin adding eight kills and Katie Slay posting seven. Micha Hancock delivered 36 assists, Nia Grant had a pair of aces and 10 digs each came from Hancock, Martin and Ali Longo.
Liberty’s Kelly Haseman was a machine in the backrow, picking up 18 digs in her team’s defensive effort.
“They played really hard,” Scott said. “Their libero’s really good, digging a lot of balls, so we just had to — they were digging a lot of our hard-hit balls so we had to do roll shots, tips, stuff like that to mix it up.”
The much smaller Flames (20-13) were well behind in kills (46-27) and hitting (.337 to .075) — though they did earn a small victory by winning the blocking battle 5-4.
“We knew coming into it they were going to be a lot bigger than us size-wise,” said Lillie Happel, who led Liberty with nine kills and a match-high 44 swings. “... (We had to) match their physical attacks in the front row. Kelly dug a lot in the back row for us so we could steal some.”
Still, they didn’t often have an answer for Scott, at least in the first two sets, when the sophomore was error-free with 14 kills.
“I felt really good,” Scott said. “Me and Micha have been connecting really well. It’s been good at practice, too, and it’s been carrying over into games.”
After the match was completed, the two teams gathered in a circle on the court and Flames head coach Shane Pinder spoke to the teams for a couple minutes and led them in prayer.
“Our faith is a big part of who we are and what we do,” Pinder said. “... The Penn State family’s been through a lot, and to have an opportunity to bring two teams together in this time and pray for this university and what’s going on, it’s hard for us to walk out of here and not take advantage of that opportunity. They need our prayers consistently. It’s pretty heavy what’s going on here.”
The gathering was reminiscent of what happened following Penn State’s football game against Nebraska last month. It is standard for the Evangelical Christian school from Lynchburg, Va., to make such gatherings — the team captains usually ask their opponents before every match — and all the Nittany Lions joined the group.
“It’s a great opportunity for some healing to happen in the Penn State family,” Rose said. “We appreciate Liberty’s guidance in that area.”
Delaware 3, American 1
The Blue Hens rallied from late deficits in each of the third and fourth sets to advance to the second round for the first time since 2007 with the 17-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23 win.
Delaware (21-12) trailed 21-19 in the third set, then was down 21-16 in the fourth as the senior-laden Blue Hens took down the young Eagles (23-11).
“We didn’t want to lose,” middle hitter Chelsea Lawrence said. “We told each other to hit the ball and do what we have to to get the win.”
Delaware got 11 kills each from Karina Evans and Alissa Alker, and 10 kills apiece from Kim Stewart and Chelsea Lawrence. Stewart and Cara Rosehill each had 15 digs, and Lawrence and Evans had three blocks each.
“No one on our team’s won a first-round match,” said setter Renee Tomko, who passed out 43 assists. “It’s definitely an awesome feeling. We didn’t play exactly how we wanted to but we win and we move on.”
Morgan Hendrix put down 12 kills to lead American, while 11 came from Kelly McCaddin and 10 each from Sara Rishell and Rebecca Heath. Rishell and Juliana Crum each had six blocks, Crum also had 16 digs, Heath posted 14 digs, 30 assists came from Monika Smidova and 17 came from Alexandra Hammer.
The Eagles lost despite having the advantage in hitting (.231 to .172), kills (55-54), digs (71-58), aces (5-3) and blocks (12-7).
“Maybe 80, maybe 90 percent of the matches go the other way,” American coach Barry Goldberg said. “This is one of those 10 to 20 percent of the matches, and usually when that happens it comes down to teams controlling the ball a little bit better.”
Notes:The night had a reunion of State College alumni. Maggie Harding got into the match for Penn State, serving the final point of the second set. Alana Del Real, a freshman at American, did not get onto the court in their match. “It was really fun,” Harding said. “I love playing. It makes me feel good to contribute.” ... Delaware and Penn State have not met since 1981, even though the Blue Hens played their first-round match in Rec Hall last season, losing to Virginia Tech. ... Elsewhere in the tournament, No. 2 seed Nebraska lost 3-2 to Kansas State in the second round.
