Wagner hits all the right notes in Stanford’s sweep of Penn St.

AUSTIN, Texas — Stanford’s Moses Wagner knows how to play the guitar. So he looked perfectly comfortable holding the mini guitar that was presented to him as player of the match after the eighth-ranked Cardinal (5-0) swept No. 7 Penn State (4-1) on Friday night.

It capped the first day of the third annual First Point Volleyball Challenge. Earlier, USC beat Ball State in four sets and No. 4 Ohio State pulled off a reverse sweep against top-ranked UCLA.

Saturday in the Austin Convention Center, Ohio State plays USC at 1:30 Central, Stanford plays Ball State at 4 and UCLA plays Penn State at 6:30.

Wagner, a 6-foot-6 sophomore right side from San Jose who appeared in only five matches as a freshman, finished with a match-high 15 kills (hitting .423) and had four blocks and three digs in the 25-21, 25-21, 25-19 victory

But while Wagner was still getting tuned up, the match took an unusual detour.

On the sixth point of the opening set, a Stanford attack went wide and  coach John Kosty and Penn State counterpart Mark Pavlik rose from their chairs and raised their challenge cards simultaneously. Kosty challenged the out call, while Pavlik suggested one of Stanford’s players touched the net during the rally.

Both coaches were correct. The ball was in, but one of Stanford’s players did contact the net. So both coaches won their challenges, but the point went to Penn State because of the net violation.

After that, Penn State held a slim lead for much of the first set before Stanford pulled away late for a 25-21 win, with Wagner getting two kills among the Cardinal’s final three points.

Save for a 1-1 tie, Stanford led the entire second set and again won 25-21. Will Rottman, a fifth-year senior outside from Santa Barbara, finished off the Nittany Lions with three consecutive kills. Rottman had nine kills, hit .308, and had an ace, two blocks and three digs. Younger brother Alex, a sophomore outside, had nine kills, two assists, two blocks and six digs.

The third set was tied eight times until, at 15-15, Stanford went on a 5-2 spurt and pulled away for a 25-19 win.

Wagner, who had eight kills in the third set, struggled with injuries last season, so he is looking for a bit of redemption in 2024. Through the Cardinal’s five matches, he ranks second on the team at 3.26 kills per set.

“Coming into this year fully healthy, I wanted to go in the gym every day and just compete and play my hardest,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been showing out in games.”

Wagner said his job is made easier thanks to being surrounded by a cast of veteran players. Against Penn State, Stanford played five fifth-years – middle blocker Adam Chang, outside hitter Kevin Lamp, setter Nathan Lietzke, Will Rottman and middle blocker Nathaniel Gates – as well as senior libero/OH Luke Turner. Each left his stamp on the victory. Chang had five kills and five block, Lietzke had 33 assists and seven digs, Lamp had an ace in the clinching set, Gates had two kills late in the third and Turner had eight digs.

Stanford hit .341 and had three aces and 15 serving errors. Penn State hit .195 and had three aces and 14 errors.

“I think having the older guys on the court definitely helps us come together in tight situations,” Wagner said. “We just stayed the course. That’s what we say all the time on the court: just stay the course, no matter if we’re down or we’re up.”

Penn State, meanwhile, lost for the first time.

Though Pavlik also has plenty of veteran players at his disposal — five seniors played for the Nittany Lions — as a collective, they still are learning to play without the services of graduated super-seniors Cal Fisher, Brett Wildman and, perhaps most significantly, setter Cole Bogner.

With true freshman Michael Schwob now the setter and veterans such as grad opposite Johnny Kerr and senior outside Michael Valenzi taking on larger roles, the Nittany Lions remain a bit of a work in progress.

Stanford was Penn State’s toughest test at this early juncture of the season, and it showed.

“I think we were disjointed at best, but I think that’s what Stanford does with a group that is bringing on a new setter, trying to revamp an offense,” said Pavlik, in his 30th year at the helm. “It’s probably predictable at this point in the year. We didn’t respond as well as we’re going to as the season rolls on.

“I don’t know if I agree that we’re a young team. We’re young at one position. I think it’s that position that the experienced guys have to rally around. … It will be a learning curve.”

Kerr, who had a 31-kill match against Lewis earlier this season, led Penn State with 12 kills and added an assist, three blocks and six digs.

Schwob had 27 assists, two blocks and six digs.

Toby Ezeonu, one of the Nittany Lions’ most experienced players in terms of years and court time, was held to four kills and hit only .083. But Ezeonu is veteran enough to know that there is no need to panic.

“Obviously we have to do some adjusting,” Ezeonu said. “Most of the errors today were on our side, and the good thing about that is we can change it and we can fix it. We don’t have to worry about today. We can always respond better tomorrow.

“It felt like we weren’t playing the way we usually play. At the same time, we were playing a really good team. It’s going to be a good season. We just have to respond tomorrow.”

And he expressed absolute confidence in Schwob to raise his game as the season progresses.

“He’s a very athletic, very young setter. He has a very long way to go, but he’s going to be a big player for this program. I have complete faith in him.

“I just feel like today overall we weren’t connecting … and it happens. I didn’t have my best game today. A lot of us didn’t have our best game today.”

Penn State’s work doesn’t get any easier. The “tomorrow” Ezeonu spoke about brings UCLA., which will be trying to bounce. back after its loss to Ohio State.

“I think they (his Penn State players) are trying to figure out how they make each other better,” Pavlik said. “That’s just a matter of the team being together and jelling and finding out what they can do to make each other better.”

Wagner hits all the right notes in Stanford’s sweep of Penn St. Volleyballmag.com.