Box score

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA—Perennial men's volleyball power Penn State, currently ranked fifth in the nation, swept an Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association match from visiting NJIT Saturday night, 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-23).
 
Penn State (8-1, 2-0 EIVA) dominated the team statistics, hitting at a .486 percentage, with 42 kills and just eight errors in 70 swings, compared to NJIT's .182, on 27 kills, 15 errors, and 66 attempts. The Nittany Lions had a 6-2 advantage in service aces and they won the team blocking as well, 4-1.
 
NJIT, which lost its first two EIVA matches, falling at Saint Francis (PA) on Friday and then at Penn State on Saturday, is 4-5 overall.
 
PSU got nine kills apiece for junior Tom Comfort and sophomore Peter Russell, while Joe Sunder, a 2011 first-team AVCA All-America, added seven kills. The trio combined for 25 kills and two errors, with Russell drilling nine kills without an error on 14 swings. Comfort and Sunder each made one error.
 
Setter Edgardo Goas, a second-team All-America, finished the match with 25 assists, while his backup, Tor Covello, played the third set and piled up 13 assists.
 
Sunder and Nick Turko each served two aces to lead Penn State in that category and three Nittany Lions had two blocks apiece, headed by Ian Hendries, who had two block solos. Libero Connor Curry led the winners' defense on the floor, with five digs.
 
NJIT's hitting leader was Chris Kaepernick, a 6-foot-8 freshman from Germany, who made his college debut with an impressive nine kills, with three errors, and 22 attempts. His classmate and fellow German, Aurel Griesshammer, had a team-best .300 hitting percentage on five kills, two errors, and 10 attacks. TJ Jurko collected seven kills for the Highlanders, as well.
 
Matthew Lui picked up 16 assists in two sets for the Highlanders, while freshman Zak Robben added 10 assists in one set.
 
Kaepernick served both NJIT aces on the night, while Griesshammer and Doug Battersby combined on the only block of the night for the Highlanders. Adam Gustafson's three digs were tops for visitors.
 
Despite the disparity in the team statistics, there were six ties apiece in both the first and the third set, which the home team won by only two points.
 
The six ties in the first set all came one step at a time on the way to a 6-6 tie that Penn State broke on successive kills by brothers Peter and Aaron Russell.
 
NJIT did not tie again, but the Highlanders were still close, 12-14, when the Nittany Lions ran off five straight points and eventually finished the set on an 11-3 burst.
 
The second set was tied three times early, the last at 4-4, before Penn State took charge with a 5-0 spurt that pushed its lead from 9-7 to 14-7. NJIT used a later 3-0 run of its own to trim the deficit to 14-18, but the home team closed the set, 7-1, including a 5-0 finish for another 25-15 set win.
 
The Highlanders took an early 6-3 lead in the third set and went up 14-9 after consecutive kills for Kaepernick.
 
NJIT still led, 16-12, when the home team launched a 6-2 rally, tying the score at 18. There would be ties at 19 and 20, but the Nittany Lions finished a 6-1 run for 24-20 advantage. However, the Highlanders valiantly resisted match point and fought back on an ace and kill for Kaepernick and then a Penn State attack error, making it 23-24. But a service error by the Highlanders pushed Penn State over the top for the clinching 25th point.
 
Next up for the Highlanders is another EIVA match when they visit Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday at 7 pm. NJIT swept its neighbor in non-conference action on January 21, also at Rutgers-Newark.
 
Later on, the Highlanders will host Penn State on March 23 in the second leg of the home-and-home season series.