No. 19 Penn State men’s volleyball fails to limit errors in loss to No. 3 Hawai’i

The Nittany Lions have played well in most sets during their daunting non conference schedule but could never find enough overall success to earn a match win against a ranked opponent. They stayed true to that trend as the team lost to No. 3 Hawaii in three sets (25-13, 25-23, 25-12) inside the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu on Saturday, falling to 5-12 on the year.

Penn State couldn’t limit its own misses, accumulating 21 attacking errors. As such, the team hit an inefficient .049 for the match — a stark contrast from the Rainbow Warriors’ .397 hitting. While the overall match played out in an unideal way for the Nittany Lions, they put up a strong fight in Set 2, but it wasn’t enough to steal a set from Hawaii’s standouts.

Outside hitter Adrien Roure paved the way for Hawaii’s strong offensive play with 15 kills on .636 hitting, though libero ‘Eleu Choy gave his squad momentum on numerous rally-saving plays, including three digs.

Setter Tread Rosenthal facilitated a well-rounded offense for Hawaii, tallying 29 assists while seven different Rainbow Warriors recorded a kill, including Louis Sakanoko’s nine kills. Rosenthal extended his impacts to the service line as well, dealing three aces to power a six-ace performance by his squad.

While it was a negative match script for Penn State, outside hitter Will Kuhns shined with 13 kills on .450 hitting. Opposite hitter Matthew Luoma recorded another seven kills, highlighting how much of the team’s offense went through its two standout hitters.

The Nittany Lions’ sideout issues were apparent throughout Set 1 as Hawaii went on three long runs to give itself a 19-7 advantage. While Kuhns led an improvement for his squad in the waning moments of the set, the Rainbow Warriors held on for the commanding victory by a large margin.

Hawaii carried some momentum over to start Set 2 with a 10-6 lead, but some self-inflicted errors allowed Penn State to flip the set over. The Nittany Lions limited themselves to just two attacking errors in the early portions of the set, allowing them to stay more competitive compared to Set 1.

Setter Michael Schowb — who finished the match with 19 assists — continued to find whichever Nittany Lion attacker was hot, and toward the end of Set 2, it was Luoma. Two late kills by Luoma helped Penn State to an advantageous 22-20 position in the set.

However, the sideout issues resurfaced late in Set 2 for the Nittany Lions with Hawaii stealing the set after ending on a 4-0 run.

The back-and-forth play continued into the start of Set 3, but Penn State began to revert back to its Set 1 form, allowing a 5-1 run to give the Rainbow Warriors an 11-7 advantage. Even after spending a timeout, the Nittany Lions couldn’t get a sideout as Hawaii swelled its lead to seven.

Coach Mark Pavlik’s squad just couldn’t find a way to respond to the Rainbow Warriors’ relentless attack as it fell in an 18-7 hole after a 10-0 run. An attacking error ended that run, but the set was already out of reach.

Hawaii maintained its large advantage for the rest of the set, earning a sweep over the Nittany Lions.