BOX SCORE STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Towson University volleyball team gave a challenge to one of the sport's top powerhouses in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night, taking the first set at No. 11 Penn State but falling in four (25-22, 16-25, 17-25, 20-25) at the Rec Hall to conclude one of the top seasons in program history.
 
Towson (29-3) used an early 6-0 run to lead 13-7 in set one and held the advantage in the remainder of the game to go up 1-0 in the match.  Penn State (26-5), the pod host, won the next three games to win the match.
 
The members of the Towson senior class conclude their careers with 97 victories in the last four years, tied for fifth-most in program history.  This senior class also helped with a match victory in each the 2019 NCAA Tournament and the 2017 National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
 
Key Game Stats:

• Towson hit .200 in the match, totaling 57 kills, including four in double digits.  Four different players had service aces while three had double digit digs.
• Emily Jarome earned 19 kills for the Tigers, one shy of her season-high, adding seven digs.  Silvia Grassini hit .364 with 11 kills while Lydia Wiers hit .350, notching 10 kills.  Olivia Finckel tallied up 11 kills.  At setter, Marrisa Wonders nearly had a double-double of 41 assists and nine digs, adding two kills.  Annie Ertz had the team-high in digs with 13, plus four kills, while libero Camryn Allen finished with 11 digs and five assists.
• For Penn State, Jonni Parker totaled a team-high 19 kills, hitting .447 with four blocks.  Kaitlyn Hord had a .545 hitting percentage off 13 kills, also having two blocks.
• Five different Tigers earned over 240 kills on the season: Jarome (349), Finckel (344), Ertz (273), Wiers (270) and Grassini (244).

How it Happened:

• Towson got off to a hot start in the first set, piecing together a Silvia Grassini kill, an Annie Ertz service ace and an Emily Jarome kill off the block to lead 3-0.  Penn State got five of the next six to take the lead, then a Jarome kill to the back line and a blazing strike by Olivia Finckel pushed Towson back ahead 6-5.  After a couple of exchanges, a Lydia Wiers kill sparked a 6-0 run for the Tigers, capped by a Grassini block and Ertz kill, for a 13-7 advantage, later going to 14-8 after a tip attack and kill from Finckel.  Towson kept earning kills to keep the lead to six until Penn State got its deficit to four.  Towson responded with a kill from Jarome and a dump kill from Marrisa Wonders, then a Penn State attack error, to build the lead to seven at 19-12.  The Nittany Lions got the next three points on Towson errors, inducing Don Metil to call a timeout.  Wiers got the call on the next attack and hit her mark off a PSU touch.  A few more exchanges kept Towson ahead 22-17.  Penn State pulled back to within two, each at 22-20 and 23-21.  A blazing spin serve was handled by Towson on the next point as Wonders set up Jarome on the antenna for a crushing attack and kill, setting up set point for the Tigers.  After a PSU hold, a rally turned into a Towson point as Jarome earned the kill off the touch, giving set one to the Tigers 25-22.
• Into set two, Towson rallied after an early 2-0 PSU start with three consecutive kills, sandwiched by two from Jarome, to go up 3-2.  The home team rode the serving of Lauren Clark for four straight, including two aces, to go ahead 6-3.  Towson halted the run on kills from Jarome and Finckel to get within one.  PSU went back up three, then Towson again got closer off an Ertz kill and Clark attack error.  Despite a kill from Grassini, Penn State took five of the following six to construct a 15-10 advantage.  A furious rally after a timeout, including a big save from Ertz on a first touch punch from the back row, resulted in a Jarome kill for Towson.  At 16-12, a kill and two straight aces from Jonni Parker gave the Nittany Lions a 19-12 lead.  Towson got back two points, including another Wiers kill, but Towson did not get closer.  Penn State got six of the final eight for a 25-16 set win and an even match.
• Towson evened up an early set three deficit with two kills from Grassini to make it 3-3.  PSU got back a two-point lead, with Towson keeping close with hard strikes from the front row, using multiple kills from Jarome.  Down 13-9, Towson rallied for three consecutive points, including another kill for Grassini, to pull within one at 13-12.  Six in a row for Penn State, started by two Kaitlyn Hord kills, gave the home team a lead of 19-12.  Kristin Spengler entered a setter and found Jarome for the kill to stop the streak, adding a PSU attack error to pull the Tigers within five.  At 22-14 PSU, Towson had a last gasp, following Jarome kill, on the serving of Wonders, with an ace and PSU attack error for a 3-0 run, but Penn State held the lead, winning the final three points for a 25-17 set three victory and 2-1 match advantage.
• Set four saw Grassini with a clever kill off a first touch to the back corner.  PSU got the next four, then Towson's front row struck with hammer shots from Finckel and Wiers to get back within one.  At 5-3, a Wiers kill, a Camryn Allen ace and another Finckel kill completed a 3-0 streak and sent Towson up 6-5, then later, two PSU errors gave Towson an 8-6 advantage.  PSU got back up on three in a row, halted by an Ertz kill off the block.  After a Tori Gorrell kill, Towson had another 3-0 run, capped by a Jarome kill and Grassini ace, to go up 12-10, later 13-11 off the 18^th kill from Jerome.  Towson got its lead to four as the attacks kept landing, with a Wiers kill and two more from Finckel pushing the Tigers lead to four at 16-12.  PSU cut the deficit to one off three consecutive Parker kills.  Towson held the advantage using kills from Wiers and Grassini, but the Nittany Lions tied it at 18 with a kill and block.  Towson regained the lead on an Ertz kill, but the home team retook the lead on a Gorrell kill and Brooklynn Hill ace, which concluded in a 6-0 run for match point.  Jarome buried a kill to defend, but PSU won on a Clark kill.  The Nittany Lions won 25-20 to take the match in four.

Up Next:
Towson's season comes to a close in the NCAA Second Round.  The Tigers earned a 29-3 record, the best tally ever under head coach Don Metil.  Towson had a 23-match winning streak and won its first-ever NCAA Tournament match, defeating Patriot League champion American in five sets yesterday.
 
Penn State advances to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
 
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