March 24, 2016
Bag Policy - Parking
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball (13-6, 7-1) welcome No. 12 Loyola and No. 13 Lewis to Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions take on Lewis (14-10, 8-5) Friday, Mar. 25 at 7 p.m. ET, followed by a Saturday Mar. 19 match up against the defending national champions in the Ramblers of Loyola (14-5, 8-2) at 7 p.m. ET.
QUICK SETS
* Chris Nugent and Taylor Hammond have paced the offense so far this season pouring in 269 kills and 722 assist, respectively, while Royce Clemens and Matt Callaway have handled things on defense early on leading the team with 161 digs and 63 total blocks, respectively.
* Penn State currently leads the EIVA with a 7-1 record in conference play. Harvard is second in the EIVA with a record of 5-2 in conference play and 9-7 overall. Saint Francis (Pa.) is third with a EIVA record of 5-3 while NJIT rounds out the top-four with an identical 5-3 record in conference play.
* Penn State is ranked in the top-25 in five different team categories including top-10 rankings in Blocks Per Set - 2.36 (10th), Kills Per Set - 13.24 (3rd), and Assists Per Set - 12.47 (3rd). Individually, Chris Nugent is ranked ninth in the nation in Points Per Set (4.65) and 10th in the nation in Kills Per Set (4.01), while Matt Callaway is currently 17th in the nation in Blocks Per Set averaging 1.09. Taylor Hammond is third in the nation in Assists Per Set currently averaging 11.11.
* Penn State vs. Lewis is a rematch of the NCAA Semifinals from last season that saw Lewis bring an end to the Nittany Lion season in a 3-1 loss to the FLyers in Stanford, Calif. on May 7, 2015
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE COMPETITION
The Nittany Lions lead the Flyers in the all-time series 20-11 while the series between Penn State and Loyola is tied at 11 games apiece. Penn State last faced Loyola on Jan. 14 falling to the Ramblers 3-0. Penn State traveled to Lewis the following day, leaving Romeroville, IL with the win in a five set match.
AVCA DI-II COACHES' POLL UPDATE: WEEK 11
Penn State checked in at No. 10 in the latest AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll. PSU has been in the top 15 the last 11 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 hits the road for the first time in over a month as the travel to Princeton, N.J. to face the Tigers on Friday April 1 at 7 p.m., followed by a Saturday April 2 matchup against the NJIT Highlanders in Newark, N.J. set to begin at 7 p.m.