Penn State women’s volleyball falls to Colorado in 5 sets

The Penn State women’s volleyball team suffered another difficult loss Saturday night.

The No. 13 Nittany Lions rode a roller coaster in a 22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 20-25, 15-3 loss to Colorado in the Big Ten-Pac 12 Challenge at the Coors Events Center.

The 15-3 loss in the fifth set was the lowest single-set point total for the Nittany Lions since the start of the rally-scoring era in 2001. Only twice since then had the team even been held to single digits in the fifth set, both 15-9 losses.

Simone Lee’s 19 kills paced the Nittany Lions (2-2), but she also had 16 hitting errors to hit .053. Tori Gorrell added 14 kills and five blocks, and Ali Frantti had 11 kills. As a team they hit .154. Bryanna Weiskircher gave out 35 assists and Abby Detering had 15 assists as the starting setter. Haleigh Washington racked up nine blocks and Kendall White posted 18 digs.

The Buffaloes (3-1) were paced by Alexa Smith’s 12 kills and 18 digs, Gabby Smith’s 10 kills, Naghede Abu’s eight blocks, Joslyn Hayes’ five blocks and Cierra Simpson’s 24 digs.

There is no rest and recovery for Penn State, which battles No. 9 Stanford at 5 p.m. Sunday.

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 12:26 AM with the headline "Penn State women’s volleyball falls to Colorado in 5 sets."