Volleyball: Women's
Penn State defeats Florida Gulf Coast
The Penn State women's volleyball team beat Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday, 3-1 (20-25, 25-11, 25-17, 25-11), after dropping the first set.
The Nittany Lions looked out of sync in their first game, hitting only .138 with seven attack errors. They didn't have a lead the entire set.
"I thought we started the first game with the same inability to play that caused us to lose our three [losses]," Coach Russ Rose said. "Everybody had a blank face and couldn't control the ball. When you do things like that, it doesn't make a difference who the opponent is going to be."
The Lions bounced back the next three sets, with strong performances from sophomore middle hitters Ariel Scott and Katie Slay. Scott had her best match of the season, leading the team with 17 kills on a .419 hitting percentage. Slay dominated the middle court, hitting .571 with 5.5 total blocks.
Rose continued to use sophomore Ali Longo as libero this weekend, limiting the play of defender Kristin Carpenter. The coach did shuffle things up a bit, using Carpenter as the setter for a few rallies while leaving freshman Micha Hancock on the floor as an attacker.
The Eagles lost all of their momentum when two of their starters collided heads in the second set. Sophomore setter Gigi Meyer and sophomore outside hitter Jessica Barnes both suffered head injuries, and were helped off the court by training staff. Florida Gulf Coast looked like a different team afterward.
Check the Collegian on Monday for full coverage of the weekend.