March 1, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball continues EIVA play against NJIT Friday, Mar. 2 at 7:00 p.m. ET, before taking on Princeton Mar. 3 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Live stats for all Penn State matches will be provided as well.
SCOUTING NJIT
NJIT stands at 3-9 on the season with wins over Lindenwood, Belmont Abbey, and Sacred Heart. The Highlanders are led by Alvaro Giemeno on the attack with 133 kills this season, he also leads in service aces with 22 through 12 matches. Piotr Namiotko is second on the team with 100 kills. Defensively, the Highlanders are led by Kevin Myren and Luca Berger who have posted 32 and 30 blocks, respectively.
SCOUTING PRINCETON
The Tigers are led offensively by sophomore George Humann who has posted 137 kills in 13 matches this season. Parker Dixon leads the team in service aces with 13 followed closely by Humann with 11. On defense, the Tigers have five players with 20 or more blocks including a team-high 39 by Humann. Princeton is 2-11 overall on the season recording wins over Stanford and earning the second win of the season this past weekend powering past Sacred Heart in five.
PENN STATE IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Penn State is currently ranked in the top-25 in four different team categories including a top-10 ranking in hitting percentage - .312 (seventh), and aces per set - 1.82 (fifth).
Individually, Jalen Penrose is the national leader in aces per set (0.71) with a season total of 30, Kevin Gear is No. 5 in hitting percentage (.445), and Luke Braswell is 14th in the nation in assists per set averaging 9.77.
NITTANY LIONS No. 10 IN LATEST AVCA POLL
Penn State enters week eight as the No. 10 team in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association DI-II (AVCA) poll. Penn State (9-3, 4-1) is coming off a split weekend vs. George Mason and Charleston (WV) this past weekend in Rec Hall.
Long Beach State remained the No. 1 team in the nation receiving all 25 first-place votes with a record of 14-0, followed by Hawai'i at No. 2 (9-2), UCLA at No. 3 (14-4), UC Irvine at No. 4 (12-4) and BYU at No. 5 (14-4) rounding out the top-five.
PAVLIK KNOWS HOW TO WIN
In his 24th year at the helm of the program, head coach Mark Pavlik has amassed over 500 wins. Pavlik currently stands at 552-175 for his career.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Penn State returns to the Outrigger Invitational Mar.8-10 Honolulu, Hawai'i to take on non-conference opponents BYU, Lewis, and host school Hawai'i.