No. 7 Penn State Rallies From 0-2 Down to Beat No. 9 Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 9 Kentucky came out of the gates strong Friday night on the opening day of the 2024 Kentucky Invitational by winning the first two sets vs. No. 7 Penn State, but the Nittany Lions rallied from 0-2 down to take the final three sets and win 3-2 (19-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25-22, 15-8) in Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Brooklyn DeLeye was the stallion for Kentucky on offense as the sophomore had 20 kills on 66 swings with only six errors. She had seven digs in the match and logged as assist as well. The Wildcats defense was stellar though two sets, but Penn State picked things up later in the match and turned their hitting percentage up from the end of set two to the end of the match more than .100 points.
The loss for Kentucky drops the Wildcats to 3-2 on the season. Penn State, ranked seventh in the country, improves to 4-0.
Saturday afternoon is the resumption of the Kentucky Invitational with Ball State playing Penn State at 5 p.m. ET. Kentucky will then play James Madison at 7:30 p.m. ET live on SEC Network+ from Historic Memorial Coliseum. Both matches are free admission.
Set One
A combination of terrific defense and clinical termination got Kentucky out of the gates well as the Wildcats took a 13-8 lead following a kill by Brooklyn DeLeye and back-to-back aces by Erin Lamb. The Kentucky lead grew to a set-high six points at 17-11 following a block from Emma Grome and Brooke Bultema on the right pin as Historic Memorial Coliseum rose to its feet. The Nittany Lions won three of four points after Kentucky was unable to get into an offensive rhythm and the Wildcats called timeout with PSU within three at 17-14, their first of the set. After Penn State closed it to within two, Kentucky put its foot to the gas petal and ran away with the set, winning six of the last eight points to win 25-19. Brookyln DeLeye led the Kentucky offense with five kills on 11 swings as Kentucky hit .231 for the set and held the Nittany Lions to .176 with only two blocks.
Set Two
It was Penn State who started strong in the second set, but Kentucky chipped away and went on a 6-3 run midway through the set to put a two-point lead on the board into the media timeout at 15-13 courtesy of a Brooke Bultema slide play for her fifth kil of the evening. After Penn State ran off three of four points including a pair of aces thrown in there, the Wildcats won three of the next four and Penn State was prompted into a timeout with Kentucky leading 20-19, its first lead in the set since 10-9 in the early stages. Kentucky won a challenge on an overturned ace call to get to 23-21 and on its third set point, UK got a gift in the form of a service error from PSU to end the set 25-23 and take a two sets to none lead inside Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Set Three
Kentucky led for a majority of the way in what was another tight set under the lights with Penn State climbing back into things with a .290 hitting percentage midway through the set. The Wildcats led 4-1 out of the gates and their lead was also three points at 17-14 before the Nittany Lions began to make their move and cut into the Kentucky lead. PSU overtook UK with a 6-1 run with two service reception errors and Kentucky was pushed into its final timeout trailing 23-20 with PSU on a 4-0 run. An illegal contact was called out of the timeout to give Kentucky its service back at 23-21 and Penn State elected to call its first of two timeouts in the frame. An ace by Eleanor Beavin squared the set at 24-24 but PSU won the final two points with a kill and blocking error to take the set, 26-24 and force thing to a fourth set.
Set Four
Set four was all Penn State in the earlygoing with the Nittany Lions growing what was a lead as much as seven points at 17-10 and Kentucky hitting in the negative for the opening stages of the frame. The Wildcats clawed back into things with a 7-3 run to close the gap and got it as close as two points but Penn State hung on for a 25-22 win to force things to a fifth set.
Set Five
Penn State was in control of the fifth set from the get-go, jumping out to a 9-3 lead and holding on to take the fifth set and the match 15-8.
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