No. 9 Kentucky (3-2) was defeated by No. 7 Penn State (4-0) in five sets on Friday.
Despite winning the first two sets to take a 2-0 lead in the match, Kentucky lost after a rally by the Nittany Lions.
Kentucky took the lead in the first set, winning 25-19 after looking strong defensively. For the third match in a row, head coach Craig Skinner opted to utilize Molly Tuozzo at libero.
In spite of that, it was Erin Lamb that stood out in the first set, making things happen for the Cats with two digs, a block, a kill and an ace in the first set.
The Cats held Penn State to a .176 clip and held the Nittany Lions’ best player, Jess Mruzik, to a .077 clip in the first set.
In the second set it was much of the same with Kentucky winning 25-23.
Brooklyn DeLeye made a great save to get the ball to Emma Grome, who promptly set up Lamb for a big kill which really got the fans into the game.
Again, Kentucky held Penn State to under a .200 clip, which is notable against a Nittany Lion squad that came into the game with a .333 clip.
In the third set, the Cats were up 15-11 going into a media timeout and looked as though they were primed for a massive sweep, but something changed after the break.
Penn State went on an 8-2 run to take the lead and didn’t look back, winning the set 26-24.
“We kind of knew their tendencies, but they had a lot of different shots that they started putting on us in those last sets,” Molly Tuozzo said after the game.
In set four, Penn State survived a late comeback from Kentucky to win 25-22 and dominated in the deciding set, winning that 15-8.
After the match, coach Skinner talked about getting other people going up front outside of just the star DeLeye, who had 66 attempts and only hit at a .167 clip.
“We’ve got to attack behind the setter and middle third,” he said. “Megan (Wilson) got a lot of swings tonight, 28 swings and 10 kills. (We’ve) got to get more swings to the middles. Brooke had 17, we need a couple more there and either Kennedy (Washington) or Jordyn (Dailey) just got to get more terminal offensively in that position to help alleviate that. And then there’s also the back row with Asia (Thigpen). So there’s a few things that we’ve got to do to loosen up the block on the other side for sure.”
With the loss to Penn State, the Cats fall to 3-2 on the season. Kentucky will take on James Madison at home for its second match of the Kentucky Invitational on Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET and will be on SEC Network+.