March 18, 2015
By Tyler Feldman, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball team returned to the University Park campus red-hot following a superb spring break trip to the West Coast.
Since losing on the road back on Feb. 21 in four sets to No. 1 Loyola Chicago, the Nittany Lions (9-9, 4-0 EIVA) have rolled off five straight wins, four of which in straight sets.
Last week, the Blue and White kept the ball rolling as they notched three straight-set wins in California against No. 7 USC and Cal State Northridge and then No. 8 Long Beach State in the Asics Invitational Tournament.
"You're trying to make sure that all of these [Southern California] distractions don't take away from the business trip that you have at hand," head coach Mark Pavlik said.
Despite all the distractions that the lovely weather in Southern California presents, Penn State had no problem staying focused.
"The match against USC, we played as complete a match as we've played all year long," Pavlik said. "It was a very good trip for us as a group, let alone the win-loss record."
Senior outside hitter Aaron Russell continued his torrid pace by accumulating 55 kills on the west coast voyage. His efforts not only earned him Asics Invitational Tournament MVP and EIVA Offensive Player of the Week, but he was also named AVCA National Player of the Week.
Redshirt junior setter Taylor Hammond added 113 assists and redshirt sophomore Matt Callaway added 13 blocks to earn Asics Invitational All Tournament Team honors. Callaway's performances earned him EIVA Defensive Player of the Week, too.
"It's really cool," Callaway said on winning the weekly conference honor. "I don't know if I've ever gotten that before, so I thought that was really sweet. My dad was super proud of me. It was really cool."
The honor certainly caught Callaway by surprise, but he says it was his teammates that made all of the difference.
"Service pressure," Callaway said. "Aaron [Russell], Nick [Goodell], Jalen [Penrose] when he was in just kept the other teams off the net, and that really helps us as a blocking team.... Keeping ourselves in system and handling the other teams' serves as well was awesome."
After a huge week against three strong west coast teams, the Nittany Lions intend on carrying that momentum into their Saturday night home match against Big Ten foe No. 11 Ohio State.
Back on Feb. 11, Penn State lost to the Buckeyes in Columbus in three highly competitive sets (24-26, 22-25, 23-25). For Callaway, the key to preparation during the week is to simply stick to the routine.
"Just stay focused and keep doing what we're doing in the gym," Callaway said. "Working really hard. Continue what we've been doing in scouting. Just listen to our great coaches."
Momentum is certainly a word that has been thrown around to describe the current state of the team, but according to Pavlik, momentum can swing the other way very quickly.
"I think momentum is only as good as your next serve and next side-out attempt," Pavlik said. "You keep it going by getting back in the gym and making sure you continue on the path that we started on three weeks ago, or four weeks ago when we really started to play well in the training gym. I think that's what we're seeing on this five-game winning streak.... We're seeing the fruits of their labor here in the gym."
The Scarlet and Grey are playing great volleyball as of late, as well. They are coming off a non-conference straight-sets win over Princeton and upset No. 2 Lewis (a team Penn State has lost to twice this season) back on March 13.
"You know coming in that Michael Henchy is going to be the guy that looks to put the ball away," Pavlik said about Ohio State's senior outside hitter. "Miles Johnson has really settled their offense down once they moved him from right side to left side. They're used to playing in this arena. We're used to playing in St. John's. I'm thinking it's going to be another similar match to what it was like out at their place; close, could go either way. I like where we are. If you miss this match Saturday, you'll miss a good Big Ten rumble."
This week's matchup starts at 7 p.m. in the main gym at Rec Hall.