Feb. 2, 2015
By Maria Canales, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Nittany Lion men's volleyball team is now happily relieved to be in the win column following a pair of dominant performances in Rec Hall over the weekend.
After tough losses last weekend to Loyola University Chicago and Lewis, the Nittany Lions found their groove and came home with a win Friday night against Mount Olive (N.C.). Sophomore Chris Nugent led the team Friday with 16 kills, a career-high, that helped the Nittany Lions power past the Trojans in straight sets (25-18, 25-11, 25-10).
"I tried not to focus on anything other than just playing my game," said Nugent. "You know, doing what I've been doing my whole life. It was my first home start and it was a really good experience, so it was a lot fun to play with such a big crowd and play well with our team."
Head coach Mark Pavlik was proud of the team's performance in Friday's match as well.
"We did what we had to do, we were clean, and I think that's what pleased me the most," said Pavlik.
The win came as a relief and validated the hard work the team has put in over the past few weeks. With as tough a schedule as the group had to open 2015, and even though it resulted in losses, the team had been motivated by their performances against some of the top-ranked teams in the country, including No. 1 Loyola-Chicago. Redshirt senior Nick Goodell believed the team's time for a win had come, and they took advantage of it.
"The first win's the hardest," said Goodell. "Other than that I mean we knew we were gonna get it, just we were playing some of the best competition. Since I've been here the past five years we've never had a schedule like this. And I mean we'd rather be in a different position right now but I'm glad that we played some top teams, they really exposed our weaknesses. So we're fixing what we need to and work off that."
A boisterous crowd welcomed the Red Flash of Saint Francis University to Rec Hall on Saturday night. The Nittany Lions went on to win three straight sets again (25-18, 25-18, 25-18) defeating the EIVA conference foe.
"We preach process, process, process, you do what you have to do over time," said Pavlik. "The wins take care of themselves and really I was feeling good after last weekend. The way we played against Loyola and Lewis you knew it was just gonna be a matter of time of putting things together."
On Saturday, senior Aaron Russell led the way for the Nittany Lions with 17 kills, enabling the team to take the lead in every set. Russell emphasized that the hard work the team had put in over previous weeks led to their ability to stay energized. He noted that although his individual stats on the court stood out, it was a team effort that led to back-to-back wins on consecutive nights.
"Makes me feel like I did my job and the guys around me, everything's clicking," said Russell. "It feels good. I hope this winning streak continues."
Coach Pavlik was quick to emphasize that the team takes matches one at a time, rather than looking at winning two games in a row as a winning streak. Overall, Pavlik was pleased with the weekend's results, but was ready to move on after the team's first wins of the season.
"As I said, the roll with the punches tour of 2015 continues," said Pavlik. "Glad we'll take this and get ready for Erskine on Friday."