Feb. 18, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - With a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-21) victory against Mount Olive on Friday evening, Penn State men's volleyball head coach Mark Pavlik earned his 400th victory. All of his victories have come at the helm of the Nittany Lion program.
Sophomore Tom Comfort (Orchard Park, N.Y.) led the Nittany Lions with 14 kills on .458 hitting. Junior Ryan Wolf (York, Pa.) was second on the team with nine kills. Redshirt junior Edgardo Goas (San Juan, Puerto Rico) dished out 34 assists and had a team best seven blocks, including four solo. Senior Dennis Del Valle (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico) had a team-best seven digs.
Penn State hit .420 against the Trojans, while MOC hit .211. The Nittany Lions totaled 40 assists, three aces, 18 digs and 9.0 team blocks. The Trojans finished the match with 35 kills, three aces, 13 digs and 3.0 team blocks.
The Trojans opened the match taking a 9-5 lead forcing a Penn State timeout. The Nittany Lions used a 5-2 run to come within one, 11-10. Soon after kills from Wolf and Comfort and two MOC attack errors had the score knotted at 14-14. After a Mount Olive timeout, twice more before Penn State took a 20-18 lead on two Wolf kills. The Trojans called a second timeout, but two kills each from Wolf and Comfort closed out the set for PSU, 25-20.
Penn State took a 5-1 lead in the second set before a 7-3 run by the Trojans had the set tied at 8-8. Comfort put down a kill and Goas put up a block to increase the Lions' lead to four, 15-11. A kill by Angel Dache cut off Penn State's attempt at a run. After a service error by each team, a 3-0 run had the Lions ahead by six, 19-13. The teams traded kills keeping Penn State's lead at six, 21-15. MOC called a second timeout, but it failed to slow the Nittany Lions. Two service errors by the Trojans helped seal the deal for the Nittany Lions, 25-19.
The Trojans jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third frame. Penn State burned an early timeout and used a 6-1 run to take a slim 7-6 lead. Benedikt Schirmers used a kill to tie it at 7-7 before an ace and a block put the Trojans up by two, 9-7. The Trojans held on to the lead briefly before two kills from Comfort and one each from freshman Peter Russell (Ellicott City, Md.) and sophomore Nick Turko (Lewisberry, Pa.) moved the Lions up by four, 14-10. MOC called a timeout, but it failed to slow PSU. The Nittany Lions maintained control for the remainder of the match with Goas closing out the set for PSU with a kill, 25-21.
What's Next?
Penn State is back in action tomorrow at 3 p.m. against Lees McRae. From there, the Nittany Lions head on a six-match road trip beginning on Feb. 23 with a trip to Saint Francis. Penn State remains on the road traveling to George Mason (2/26), Springfield (3/5), UCLA (3/9), UC Santa Barbara (3/11) and Long Beach (3/12).
For more information on the Penn State men's volleyball team, please visit GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State men's volleyball 2011 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets and The Outlets at Hershey.