Volleyball: Women's
Women's volleyball smacks Binghamton in first round of NCAA tournament
Behind the record setting performance of Micha Hancock, Penn State’s women’s volleyball team swept the Binghamton Bearcats in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Friday night in Rec Hall, winning 25-11, 25-3, 25-9.
Penn State opened the match with a balanced attack in the first set. Ariel Scott and Nia Grant each finished the set with five kills, while Megan Courtney added four and Deja McClendon three. As a team, the Lions hit .692 and only committed one hitting error in the set.
In the second set, the Lions asserted their dominance. Hancock served 21 consecutive points to open the set, one off the record for most consecutive points served in NCAA history. Among those 21 points were six service aces from Hancock, four kills from McClendon, and two kills from Scott.
The Bearcats meanwhile, only converted eight percent of their attacks, committed ten hitting errors, and hit -.476 as team in the second set.
The Lions opened up the third set with another big run, jumping out to a 13-0 advantage behind two more service aces from Hancock. Penn State went on to win the third and final set 25-9.
Hancock finished the match with a Penn State record ten service aces, breaking her own record of seven, set last year against Illinois. The 5’11” setter from Oklahoma also chipped in two kills on the evening.
McClendon led the Lions with 12 kills, while Grant finished with nine, Scott eight, Courtney five, and Katie Slay finished with two.
On the evening, Penn State only committed three attacking errors, and hit .587 as a team for the match.
With Penn State’s victory, the Lion’s will play Bowling Green (22-10), Saturday evening at 7:30 in Rec Hall. Bowling Green beat Yale in five sets Friday night, and is now 8-0 in five set matches on the season.
Regardless of Saturday’s outcome, this will be Penn State’s final home match of the 2012 campaign.