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Opposite John Kerr stepped up and delivered a near school-record performance for No. 6 Penn State.
Kerr led all players with a career-high 31 kills on a .417 attack percentage as Penn State defeated No. 16 Lewis 25-18, 22-25, 29-27, 29-31, 15-13 on Saturday in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Kerr was four kills shy of tying the single-match school record during the rally scoring era that U.S. Olympian Matt Anderson set in 2007. This was also the first time this decade that a Nittany Lion had at least 30 kills in a match.
The graduate student had all but six of their kills in the third and fourth game. Kerr in the fourth game had game-high 14 kills, including scoring seven of Penn State’s final eight points in the overtime loss.
Penn State in the decisive fifth game committed one error and hit .409 to secure the non-conference victory. In addition, freshman setter Michael Schwo had 59 assists and guided the Penn State offense to out-hit Lewis for the match .343 to .279.
Three Nittany Lions finished with double-digit kills to help the team stay undefeated.
Middle attacker Toby Ezeonu had 15 kills on a .414 attack percentage. The Preseason All-American had a game-high six kills in the final game, including three kills as part of a 4-2 run to close out the match.
Outside attacker Michal Kowal contributed 11 kills and hit .333 against Lewis.
Lewis outside attacker Max Roquet in the loss had a team-high 14 kills.
Kerr along with the offensive performance had a career-high four aces. The opposite also was the only player to have multiple aces in the match.
Penn State in the victory committed 27 service errors – five more errors than Lewis.