Behind a career night for Cal Mende, No. 13 Penn State completed a comeback from a two-set deficit, fighting off a match point, to beat Princeton in five sets Saturday.
Mende pounded down a stunning 29 kills on .659 hitting, making just two errors on his 41 swings and adding six blocks, in the 3-2 (22-25, 25-27, 25-19, 27-25, 15-9) victory.
Chris Nugent added 19 kills on .412 hitting for the Nittany Lions (8-4, 3-0 EIVA), who have won five straight. Lee Smith posted 13 kills to go with seven blocks, Kevin Gear led with eight blocks, Royce Clemens collected eight digs and freshman Nathan Smith guided the offense to .434 hitting with his 62 assists in his first career start.
Kendall Ratter’s 27 kills paced the Tigers (3-6, 1-1).
Penn State heads to Loretto on Tuesday to face St. Francis.
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