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John Kerr continues to make the most of their time in the starting lineup.
The senior opposite finished with a match-high 15 kills as No. 4/4 Penn State defeated No. 8/6 Stanford 25-18, 25-17, 20-25, 25-23 on Saturday at the First Point Collegiate Challenge in Austin, Texas.
This was the third time Kerr had at least 15 kills during Penn State’s six-match winning streak to open the season. Kerr in limited playing before this season never had more than three kills in a match but was inserted into the starting lineup earlier this month because of an injury to All-American opposite Cal Fisher.
Along with the offensive performance, Kerr led all players with two aces against Stanford (5-1, 0-0 MPSF). Kerr also delivered the final ace with the Nittany Lions leading by one point late in the fourth game to set up a match-point.
Penn State (6-0, 0-0 EIVA) in the non-conference victory out-hit Stanford .312 to .242 and had three players finish with double-digit kills.
Middle attacker Toby Ezeonu had 10 kills on a team-best .692 attack percentage, including having four kills in the final game. Outside attacker Michal Kowal contributed 14 kills while hitting .345.
All-American outside attacker Brett Wildman playing in his second match of the season after being out with an injury had eight kills and both a team-high 10 digs and two aces.
Outside attacker Will Rottman in Stanford’s first loss of the season led the team with 14 kills on a .480 attack percentage. Rottman was the only Cardinal to have more than eight kills.
Freshman outside attacker Alex Rottman, the younger brother of Will Rottman, came off the bench and contributed five kills and had zero attack errors against Penn State.
Penn State with this win is off to its best start since 2009.