UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The EIVA Tournament will be played somewhere other than Rec Hall for the first time since 2019 as Princeton clinched the conference’s regular season title with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-27, 25-18, 25-23) win over Penn State on Friday night at Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions, who raced to a 15-10 lead in the opening set and went up 21-16 in the fourth set before dropping both, fell to 10-15 overall and 7-4 in the conference. Their road to a 37th EIVA Tournament title now goes through New Jersey as Princeton will host the event for the first time in six years. The Tigers upped their record to 14-9 overall and 10-1 in the conference.
Penn State can still get the two seed in the conference tournament, which would ensure a bye into the semifinal round. The Nittany Lions need a win over Princeton on Saturday coupled with a Harvard win over NJIT.
Penn State put together a strong defensive effort with 11 blocks while holding Princeton to .215 hitting. Matthew Luoma was in on six blocks in addition to his team-high 15 kills. Gaige Gabriel was also in on six blocks while hitting .400 with 10 kills. Will Kuhns and Owen Rose had three blocks apiece.
The Nittany Lions racked up 45 digs, led by libero Ryan Merk with 10 to give him double-digits for the third-straight match. Luoma tallied six digs, while Carter Dittman, Michael Schwob, Rose, and Kuhns contributed five apiece. Schwob also had a strong night from the service line, recording all three of the team’s aces
However, Penn State couldn’t get anything going consistently with its attack, hitting .115 thanks in large part to 18 Princeton blocks. Ryan Vena led the way, contributing on nine of those blocks. Henry Wedbush was in on eight, while Nyherowo Omene tallied seven. Omene paced the Tigers’ offense with 19 kills. Mason Rice joined him in double-digits with 12.
Set 1
Penn State jumped out to a 15-10 lead but couldn’t hold on as Princeton fought back to take the opening set 25-22. The Tigers needed little time to make the comeback, scoring seven of the next eight points to take a 17-16 edge. They later used a 3-0 run with a kill and two blocks to go up 22-19. Penn State called timeout and came out of it with back-to-back points with a pair of kills by Gabriel. Princeton responded with the next two points and later ended the set with a kill by Omene.
Set 2
Gabriel had five kills on six swings and Luoma tallied six kills to lead Penn State to a 27-25 win in set two. It was close from start to finish with 12 ties and four lead changes. The largest lead for either team was Penn State by three. The Nittany Lions had the first chance at set point after taking a 24-23 advantage with a kill by Luoma but followed it with an attack error. The Tigers also stopped their second chance at set point to knot the score at 25-25. The Nittany Lions went up 26-25 on a service error and closed the set with a solo block by Sean Harvey.
Set 3
Omene had five kills and Princeton held Penn State to .031 hitting in a 25-18 win in the third set. The Tigers pulled away with a 4-0 run that put them up 21-15. Their largest lead of the set came at the end after a solo block by Wedbush for set point.
Set 4
Penn State again saw a lead evaporate as it went up 16-11 before dropping the fourth set 25-23. The Nittany Lions still led by five at 21-16 thanks to a Princeton attack error. A 4-0 run by the Tigers tied the score at 21-all before the Nittany Lions regained the lead on a service error. Princeton took over from there, going on a 3-0 run that included two more blocks. A serve by the Tigers just missed to make it 24-23, but they bounced back with a kill by Omene to clinch the match.
Career Highs
Matthew Luoma – blocks (6)
Up Next
Penn State and Princeton close the regular season with a match at Rec Hall on Saturday at 3 p.m.