Bag Policy - Parking
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March 17, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 6 Penn State men's volleyball (12-4, 7-0) looks to bounce back into the win column following back-to-back losses during the Penn State Pre-Spring Break Tournament to then No. 1 Long Beach State and No. 12 Cal State Northridge. The Nittany Lions take on Saint Francis (Pa.) (11-6, 4-3) Friday, Mar. 18 at 7 p.m. ET, followed by a Saturday Mar. 19 match up against the Buckeyes of Ohio State (17-3, 9-1) at 7 p.m. ET.
QUICK SETS
* Chris Nugent and Taylor Hammond have paced the offense so far this season pouring in 227 kills and 611 assist, respectively, while Royce Clemens and Matt Callaway have handled things on defense early on leading the team with 131 digs and 56 total blocks, respectively.
* Penn State currently leads the conference with an unblemished mark of 7-0 in league play. Harvard occupies the No. 2 spot with their conference record of 5-2, followed by Saint Francis and NJIT both reflecting conference records of 4-3 on the season
* Penn State is ranked in the top-25 in four different team categories including top-10 rankings in Blocks Per Set - 2.46 (8th), Kills Per Set - 13.46 (3rd), and Assists Per Set - 12.68 (3rd). Individually, Chris Nugent is ranked eighth in the nation in both Points Per Set (4.81) and Kills Per Set (4.20), while Matt Callaway is currently seventh in the nation in Blocks Per Set averaging 1.19. Taylor Hammond is third in the nation in Assists Per Set currently averaging 11.53.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE COMPETITION
Penn State holds a 37-0 lead in the all-time series against Saint Francis (Pa.). The Nittany Lions swept the Red Flash earlier this season in Loretto, Pa. 25-16, 25-22, 25-23. Head coach Mark Pavlik earned his 500th career victory against Saint Francis during their last visit to Rec Hall on April 25, 2015.
Penn State enters Saturday's match against the Buckeyes holding a series lead over Ohio State at 71-29-1 dating back to 1978. Ohio State is currently ranked No. 4 in the AVCA DI-II national rankings. The Nittany Lions split the season series last season with each team defending their home court.
AVCA DI-II COACHES' POLL UPDATE: WEEK 10
Penn State held steady at No. 6 in the latest AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll. PSU has been in the top 15 the last six consecutive weeks since debuting at No. 10 in the AVCA DI-II pre-season poll. The Nittany Lions have now seen or will see a total of nine teams from the top 15 at some point during the regular season.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Penn State will stay at home hosting a Monday night match against UC-Irvine on Monday Mar. 21 with a first whistle slated for 7:00 p.m.