May 1, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 12th-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team captured its 22nd overall and 12th straight EIVA Championship title with a 3-0 (30-28, 30-27, 30-13) sweep of Princeton Saturday evening at Rec Hall to advance to the NCAA National Semifinals in Stanford, Calif. on Thursday, May 6. The Nittany Lions now await their NCAA opponent, announced on ESPNews on Sunday, May 2 at 2 p.m. Ohio State defeated Loyola-Chicago in five sets to win the MIVA Championship and advances to the NCAA Semifinals for the third straight season. Stanford won MPSF final with a 3-0 sweep of Cal State Northridge and also earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Semifinals, along with an at-large team as determined by the NCAA Men's Volleyball Committee.
With the victory, Penn State now owns an overall record of 58-3 in the EIVA Championship tournament, with a 22-3 record in the EIVA final dating back to 1986. This will be the 15th NCAA appearance for the Nittany Lions under head coach Mark Pavlik and the 25th overall for the program.
Penn State redshirt sophomore Joe Sunder (Greensburg, Pa.) was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He was joined on the all-tournament team by, senior Max Lipsitz (Williamsville, N.Y.) and redshirt sophomore Edgardo Goas (San Juan, Puerto Rico), George Mason's Lance Rogers, Springfield's AJ Nally and Princeton's Michael Dye and Vincent Tuminelli.
Lipsitz led the Nittany Lions with 15 kills on 19 swings (.684), while Sunder was second on the team with 12. Senior Will Price (Gaithersburg, Md.) posted nine kills, while sophomore Ryan Wolf (York, Pa.) and freshman Nick Turko (Lewisberry, Pa.) had seven apiece. Goas dished out 46 assists and Sunder led the team with 10 digs. Lipsitz was the team leader at the net with four blocks.
Penn State registered a .441 attack percentage and held the Tigers to .258. The Lions totaled 54 kills, five aces, 28 digs and 7.0 total team blocks. Princeton finished the night with 41 kills, one aces, 24 digs and 10.0 team blocks.
The Lions took the lead early in set one, only to have the Tigers use back-to-back kills to take a 6-5 lead. PSU tied it at 6-6 with a Turko kill, but another Princeton kill and two PSU errors gave the Tigers a 9-6 edge. The Tigers maintained the lead until a 3-1 PSU run had the score knotted at 20-20. The score tied twice more before a Price kill and a Princeton attack error put the Lions in front, 23-22. After a Princeton timeout, let the Tigers regroup and a kill by Vincent Tuminelli and a Princeton stuff had the scored tied one final time at 26-26. A Princeton service error and an ace by redshirt junior Alan Mars (Rochester, N.Y.) had Penn State leading 28-26. The Tigers called a second timeout, but kills from Sunder and Turko secured set one for PSU, 30-28.
The second set started out close with the score tying five times before to straight Sunder putdowns put Penn State in the lead, 8-6. The Tigers fought back within one, 9-8, but a Sunder kill and Princeton error had the Lions leading by three, 11-8. Princeton called a timeout and used two straight kills to come within one, 11-10, a second time. However, a 4-0 PSU run put PSU comfortably in the lead, 15-10. Penn State stayed ahead by four until a 6-2 Princeton run had the Tigers threatening to take the lead at 20-20. The score tied five times, but the Tigers were never able to jump ahead. With the score tied at 25, two Wolf kills made it 27-25 in favor of the Lions. A Princeton service error and a Lipsitz kill put PSU in set-point position. Tuminelli tallied one final point for the Tigers before Lipsitz won the set with a kill, 30-27.
The Nittany Lions dominated set three from the start taking a 5-0 lead and forcing the Tigers to head to the bench. Tuminelli put the Tigers on the board with a kill, but Penn State's lead continued to grow and by midway through the frame, Penn State was up by eight, 14-6. Princeton used its second timeout, but a 4-0 PSU run, with three kills by Wolf, had Penn State's lead in double-digits, 18-6. Jeff McCown put down a kill for Princeton, but Penn State took off on a 12-4 run bringing the score to 28-12. A PSU service error was Princeton's final point of the may as two straight errors by the Tigers gave Penn State a convincing 30-13 win.
Penn State, Ohio State, Stanford and an at-large team determined by the NCAA Men's Volleyball Committee will square off in the NCAA National Collegiate Semifinals on May 6 in Stanford, Calif. at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. PT (9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET). The National Championship match is set for Saturday, May 8 at 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET). The semifinals will be broadcast live on ESPNU and the championship will be broadcast live on ESPN2. Not near a TV? You can also listen to the match live on GoPSUsports.com and WRSC-FM (103.1) with Dean DeVore and Dr. Tom Tait.
For more information on the Penn State men's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State men's volleyball 2010 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets and The Outlets at Hershey.