Thursday night at the Insalaco Arena, the Marywood Pacers hosted the Nittany Lions of Penn State Harrisburg. Coming into the contest, the Pacers were sitting at a 3-10 record, while the Nittany Lions were on a roll with an 8-3 record.

The first set started with a kill by Casey Hagerstrom, assisted by setter Jaedyn Laws. Then, the Nittany Lions quickly got off to a strong lead of 19-11. The Pacers made a push towards the end of the set, but it wasn’t quite enough to surpass Penn State Harrisburg, as the Nittany Lions would capture the first set, 25-17.

During the second set, the Pacers looked much better. After a rough start to the set, Coach Bill Schutter called a timeout after being down big, early. Coming out of the timeout the Pacers were hot, bringing the set within three points, at 18-15. The Pacers weren’t able to maintain the momentum, as Penn State would go on to score five straight. They would eventually drop the second set to the Nittany Lions.

The third set was all Nittany Lions. They would come out steamrolling, taking a hefty 19-10 lead over the Pacers. Marywood fought all the way down to the end but couldn’t pull through. The Nittany Lions would finish out both the set and the match with a 25-20 final.

Even with a loss Thursday night, Coach Schutter is still looking forward to the back half of the season. He was pleased with the performance of the team.

“I was very thrilled with the way that we played,” said Shutter. “Even though it was a loss, I think we came out with some positives.” 

Despite the Pacers starting the season in an early rut, they have their eyes on the future.

“Our concentration is conference play,” said Shutter.

The Pacers are back in action Tuesday night, traveling to Penn State Abington.

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