April 13, 2017
Bag Policy - Parking
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Currently holding a one game lead in the EIVA standings, No. 13 Penn State returns to Rec Hall to take on conference opponents Charleston (WV) and George Mason Friday, Apr. 14 and Saturday Apr. 15 at 7 p.m. ET.
SCOUTING CHARLESTON (WV)
The Golden Eagles are coming off a four set win over Alderson Broaddus on Apr. 5 in Philippi, WV that saw Charleston (WV) break a three game slide.
Ryan Santos leads Charleston (WV) in kills with 268 through 27 matches while teammate Eugene Stuart is second with a season total of 128.
Anthony Rivera leads the Golden Eagles in assist with 692, Darrin DePellegrini leads in digs (192) and the aforementioned Stuart is the team leader in blocks with 62 total.
Charleston (WV) is currently in eighth-place in the EIVA with a record of 12-15 overall and 0-12 in EIVA play.
Penn State downed Charleston (WV) 3-0 earlier this season on the road.
SCOUTING GEORGE MASON
George Mason is coming off a loss to Princeton Apr. 8 following a five-game win streak prior to the loss.
The Patriots posted a 3-0 win over NJIT followed by a four-set loss to Princeton last Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Jack Wilson leads George Mason in kills posting 299 through 25 matches.
Brian Negron leads the Patriots in assist with 807, Johnny Gomez leads in digs (172) and Graham Gresham is the team leader in blocks with 52 total.
George Mason is currently sixth-place in the EIVA with a record of 13-12 overall and 6-6 in EIVA play.
EIVA TOURNAMENT
Penn State has hosted the EIVA Tournament 24 out of 38 year during their time in the conference. The Nittany Lions have hosted for 17 consecutive years dating back to 1999. The magic number for Penn State is one, if Penn State wins one more game this weekend they will claim at least a share of the regular season title which has gone to the Nittany Lions for 19-straight season.
The team that finishes the regular season as the No. 1 seed will host the EIVA tournament. Should there be a tie between any teams after the regular season the following tie-breakers will determine who has earned the right to host:
1. Head-to-head match record;
2. Head-to-head games won against each other;
3. Game winning percentage within the division;
4. Head-to-head points amongst the tied teams;
5. Points against teams within the division;
6. Coin toss
PENN STATE IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Penn State is currently ranked in the top-25 in four different team categories including assist per set, blocks per set, kills per set and hitting percentage.
Individually, Chris Nugent is ranked 26th in the nation in kills per set (3.30), while Kevin Gear is 21st in the nation in blocks per set averaging 0.99.
Luke Braswell is seventh in the nation in assists per set averaging 10.42 and Royce Clemens is ranked 19th in the nation in digs per set averaging 2.27 per set.
NITTANY LIONS 13th IN LATEST AVCA POLL
Penn State enters week 14 as No. 13 team in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association DI-II (AVCA) poll.
Penn State (17-10, 9-3) is coming off a split week that included a win over Harvard paired with a loss to Sacred Heart on the road.
Long Beach State remained the top team in the nation receiving 21 of 24 first-place votes with a record of 24-3, followed by Ohio State at No. 2 (27-2), BYU at No. 3 (23-3), Hawai'i at No. 4 (24-4) and UC-Irvine (19-6) rounding out the top-five.
| Rank | School (First-Place Votes) | Total Points Adjusted | 2017 Record | Previous Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Long Beach State (21) | 357 | 24-3 | 1 |
| 2 | Ohio State (2) | 331 | 27-2 | 2 |
| 3 | BYU (1) | 319 | 23-3 | 3 |
| 4 | Hawai'i | 284 | 24-4 | 4 |
| 5 | UC Irvine | 269 | 19-6 | 5 |
| 6 | UCLA | 230 | 17-9 | 6 |
| 7 | Lewis | 219 | 22-6 | 7 |
| 8 | Pepperdine | 189 | 10-11 | 8 |
| 9 | Stanford | 172 | 13-12 | 9 |
| 10 | Southern California | 136 | 14-13 | 11 |
| 11 | Ball State | 111 | 18-9 | 13 |
| 12 | Loyola-Chicago | 100 | 16-11 | 10 |
| 13 | Penn State | 69 | 17-10 | 12 |
| 14 | Grand Canyon | 50 | 17-10 | 15 |
15 | CSUN | 36 | 12-15 | 14 |
PAVLIK KNOWS HOW TO WIN
In his 23rd year at the helm of the program, head coach Mark Pavlik has amassed over 500 wins. Pavlik currently stands at 538-172 for his career. Pavlik is one of three current Penn State head coaches with 500 or more career wins joining Field Hockey's Charlene Morett-Curtiss and women's volleyball's Russ Rose.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Penn State will await the results of the regular seasonto see who they will matchup against in the opening round of the EIVA Tournament.