April 28, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 14th-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team (23-7) earned the No. 4 seed in the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship. The Nittany Lions defeated Harvard, 3-0, for their 15th straight conference title on Saturday, April 27 to earn the automatic berth. Penn State will face No. 1 seed BYU (25-4) who own the MPSF title with a 3-0 sweep of Long Beach State.
The Cougars and Nittany Lions will meet on Thursday, May 2 at 11 p.m. ET at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion in the second semifinal match. Second-seeded UC Irvine (23-7), which earned the at-large bid, takes on No. 3 seed Loyola-Chicago (22-9) in the first semifinal match at 9 p.m. ET. Both matches will be broadcast live on NCAA.com.
The winners of each semifinal match will meet in the National Championship match on Saturday, May 4 at 9 p.m. ET. The match will air live on ESPNU. For more information regarding the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship, please visit NCAA.com and UCLAbruins.com.
Penn State picked up its 15th consecutive Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) title on Saturday night with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-16) win against Harvard. The Nittany Lions are making their 15th straight and 28th overall NCAA National Semifinal appearance, having captured the national championship title in 1994 and 2008.
This will be the first meeting between Penn State and BYU in 2013. BYU has a slim 10-9 lead in the series. The Cougars and Nittany Lions last met in 2012 during the regular season. BYU won both matches on their home court.
Penn State visited UC Irvine earlier this season with the Anteaters claiming a 3-0 victory. The Anteaters are 7-4 all-time against the Nittany Lions. Penn State has a slim lead in the series with Loyola-Chicago at 10-7. Penn State hosted the Ramblers on Jan. 22 at Rec Hall and secured a 3-0 sweep.
For more information on the Penn State men's volleyball team, please visit GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State men's volleyball 2013 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets.