The Rams (1-6) received seven kills and three blocks from sophomore Kristin Boyd (Wilmington, N.C.), while senior Mariel Frey (Lititz, Pa.) added six kills. Sophomore libero Marisa Low (Carlsbad, Calif.) provided 11 digs. Low averaged 4.18 digs per set in three tournament matches and was named to the All-Tournament team.

 
Penn State (6-0) looked much like the team that won the last three women's volleyball national championships. With a near-capacity crowd of 4,626 behind them, the Nittany Lions hit .422 on the way to victory.

 
"The biggest telling number was that we had zero blocks in the first two games. So, we were getting beat and not reading their setter," VCU Head Coach James Finley said. "We made some adjustments and came out and made four blocks in the last set and that was really nice. I was really proud of that."

 
AVCA All-Region selection Blair Brown and Katie Kabbes led the PSU attack with 13 kills apiece. Libero Alyssa D'Errico added 17 digs.

 
There was little the Rams could do against Penn State's significant size advantage. VCU hit just .053 and committed 16 hitting errors. However, Finley is more interested in the process than the result at this point in the season.

 
"One thing that we're starting to find is that we're starting to settle into a rotation, finding which kids can play together," he said. "With eight new kids, we've tried a lot of different rotations and put a lot of different people out there. It's fun as a coach because things are starting to settle in. It's not a complete mystery every time we get on the court."

 
VCU returns to action on Friday, Sept. 10, when they meet Kansas State at the UK Invitational at 5 p.m.