Jan. 28, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The second-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team captured its 800th win in program history Monday night, defeating Mount Olive College in three games (30-22, 30-25, 30-22) to improve to 8-0 for the season. The Nittany Lions join UCLA, Ball State and Ohio State as the only teams with 800 or more program wins in NCAA Division I history.
"This was a match tonight with very little energy," said head coach Mark Pavlik. "It was a workman-like effort on our part and we did thinks well at times. We have to do a better job in these types of situations to make the score differential larger, we gave them a lot of points with our missed serves. But our physical advantage just took over and allowed us to win this match."
Junior outside hitter Matt Anderson (West Seneca, N.Y.) led all players with 14 kills as junior middle hitter Max Holt (Cincinnati, Ohio) recorded 13 on .750 hitting and junior opposite Ryan Sweitzer (Lancaster, Pa.) posted 10 kills. Sophomore middle hitter Max Lipsitz (Williamsville, N.Y.) posted eight kills on .636 hitting as the Nittany Lions attacked at a .435 clip for the match.
Senior setter Luke Murray (East Petersburg, Pa.) dished out 27 assists in two games of action while senior setter Travis Foltz (Westlake Village, Calif.) notched 10 assists in the third game. Murray and freshman libero Dennis Del Valle (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico) both recorded five digs as junior outside hitter Jay Stauffer (Columbia, Pa.) chipped in four and Holt, Sweitzer and Anderson all posted three digs.
Penn State outblocked Mount Olive 10.5 to 5.0, led by Holt with six and Anderson and Foltz with three apiece, Lipsitz and Murray with two while Sweitzer, Stauffer, junior Jon Sherrick (Mountville, Pa.) and redshirt freshman Alan Mars (Rochester, N.Y.) all posted one block.
Holt had three aces in the contest while Anderson also contributed one.
Noel Garcia led the Trojans with 12 kills and Osvaldo Perez chipped in nine. Zach Wilson provided 32 assists and Perez picked up six digs. Mike Carroll led the blocking list with three stuffs. Mount Olive is coached by former PSU standout Alex Gutor's father, Sasha.
Two Holt service aces put Penn State ahead 8-4 to start the match and a Holt kill made it 16-9. Kills from Anderson and Murray pushed the lead to 21-14 before a Lion triple block from Holt, Sweitzer and Anderson extended the lead to 25-17. Two Sweitzer putaways and one from Holt made it 28-20 before an Anderson kill ended the game, 30-22.
Three Holt kills, a Holt and Murray block and an Anderson service ace gave the Lions the 8-3 lead in the second game. Two Anderson kills and three Trojan attack errors pushed the Penn State lead to 17-11 before Lipsitz and Sweitzer putaways extended the advantage to 24-16. A Holt kill coupled with an Anderson putaway made it 28-23 before a Lipsitz kill ended the game, 30-25.
A Foltz and Lipsitz block along with a Sweitzer kill put the Lions up 12-10 in the third game. A Holt and Anderson block pushed the score to 15-11 before Anderson and Holt kills made it 19-13. Another Holt and Foltz block, a Stauffer kill and a Sherrick and Anderson block gave Penn State the 26-17 advantage before two blocks, one by Mars and Holt and another by Holt and Foltz, ended the game, 30-22.
Penn State takes to the road to face EIVA opponent NJIT on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 7:00 p.m. in Newark, N.J. before the Nittany Lions return home to host Juniata on Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 7:00 p.m. at Rec Hall.
For more information on the Penn State men's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.