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Penn State ends Hawaii’s volleyball season

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  • TONY AVELAR / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
    Hawaii's Sinisa Zarkovic (16) hits a spike past Penn State during the first set of an NCAA Play-in Matches college volleyball on Tuesday

Senior All-American middle Taylor Averill put down 15 kills and junior hitter Siki Zarkovic added 13 but it was not enough as fourth-seeded Hawaii fell to fifth-seeded Penn State 25-22, 25-20, 17-25, 27-25 in the NCAA men’s volleyball tournament play-in match at Stanford, Calif., Tuesday night. 

“I just can’t say enough, how proud I am of my guys and how well they battled,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “What a great season we had.

“We don’t look at this as kind of  one-hit wonder. We think we have the program back to national prominence.”

The Rainbow Warriors finish the season 24-7, losing for the fourth time in their last five matches.

The Nittany Lions (21-9), winning their 16th straight, advance to their 17th consecutive NCAA semifinal. Penn State will face top-seeded Lewis on Thursday, with the other semifinal between UC Irvine and defending champion Loyola-Chicago.

Aaron Russell led the Nittany Lions with 20 kills and Nick Goodell added 19.

Hawaii did not take its first lead in the match until 2-1 in Set 3. The Rainbow Warriors also led at 21-20 but a service error by senior hitter Brook Sedore tied it at 21.

At 24-23, Hawaii held off two match points, getting a solo block by Zarkovic to tie at 24 and a kill by Zarkovic to tie at 25. Russell’s 20th kill gave the Nittany Lions their third shot at ending it, winning it when Zarkovic hit long.

Hawaii outlblocked Penn State 17.5-9.5 with Averill in on eight and Holt and Jennings Franciskovic six each. Avery hit .609 with just one hitting error in 23 swings. 

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