East Carolina University
Penn State
East Carolina Suffers Sweep at No. 3 Penn State
September 20, 2014 | Volleyball
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Sydney Darden was named to the Penn State Alumni Classic All-Tournament Team after turning in a solid performance for East Carolina against the No. 3 Nittany Lions in a 3-0 [11-25, 17-25, 10-25] setback. With the loss, the Pirates drop to 6-2 on the season, while Penn State improves to 12-1.
"To be able to bring a team in here and go 2-2 on the weekend is great," Head Coach Julie Torbett said of playing defending National Champion Penn State. "I'm very proud of them. I thought that a couple of the performances held up really well.
"I talked to the team about not shying away and not being afraid," Torbett continued. "We're undaunted that's our motto at ECU. We had a lot of good reasons to go in feeling confident that we could play with them. It was an opportunity to see that level of play that we're aspiring to get to at some point in the program."
Darden, along with junior middle blocker Kierra Lee-Dunson, led the Pirates with six kills each in the match. The sophomore outside hitter also added a match-high four block assists to go along with a pair of assists. Lee-Dunson was perfect through most of the match as she tallied six kills on 10 attempts with just one error to hit a team-best .500.
"Kierra did well," Torbett stated. "She could have been on either side of the net tonight. I wish we could have got her the ball more. We had trouble passing with Micha Hancock being the best server in the country. I thought that Kierra did a great job when she had an opportunity."
The Pirates hung with the best in the nation through three sets and finished the match with 5.0 total team blocks to match Penn State's 5.0 blocks. East Carolina did a solid job of staying in the game and not backing down while playing in front of 3,337 fans.
Penn State got out in front early as the Nittany Lions opened the match on a 10-0 run which was highlighted by four service aces from Hancock. Once ECU adapted to the host's style of play, the Pirates began chipping away at PSU's lead. Lee-Dunson was on point as she connected on two of three attacks in the frame to hit .667, before Penn State earned a 25-11 win.
East Carolina came out in the second set and got on the board first as Darden knocked down a kill. However, the Nittany Lions quickly turned things around as they took a 6-1 advantage. ECU would not be outdone as the Pirates battled back to pull within three (9-6). PSU surged ahead to take a 10-point lead (20-10), but the Pirates put together a 5-1 run to make it a 22-15 game. ECU fought hard, but its rally came up short as the Nittany Lions took set two, 25-17.
In the third set, ECU again scored first, this time on a block from Lee-Dunson and Darden. After PSU jumped out in front yet again, Erika Figueroa entered the game and notched a service ace to cut the Nittany Lions' lead to two (6-4). That was as close as the Pirates would come in the frame as Penn State put the game out of reach after going on a 7-0 run. The Nittany Lions went on to win the third set, 25-10, en route to sweeping the match.
Hancock finished the contest with a total of eight service aces, while adding 33 assists, four digs, three kills and two block assists. Ali Frantti and Megan Courtney reached double-figures with 10 kills each, while hitting .533 and .529, respectively.
East Carolina returns home to open American Athletic Conference action Friday, September 26, against UConn at 7 p.m., at Williams Arena inside Minges Coliseum. Live stats and video will be available for the match via ECUPirates.com.
