April 5, 2018
By Will Desautelle, GoPSUsports.com student staff writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State took a step back in the EIVA standings this past weekend with a loss at Harvard Saturday night. Although Penn State dropped to third place in the league standings, this weekend brings a crucial rematch against George Mason Saturday.
It has been an up and down regular season for the Nittany Lions, as head coach Mark Pavlik has said in recent weeks, he believes his team is peaking at the right time. However, with several regular starters out and several self-inflicted errors in set five against Harvard, the Nittany Lions dropped their third EIVA match of the regular season.
"We got ourselves in a good position in game five, then we missed five serves and had two hitting errors," Pavlik said.
Setter Luke Braswell left midway through the Harvard match due to illness and Aiden Albrecht did not travel with the team. The Nittany Lions also suffered a critical loss against Harvard when Calvin Mende left the court after what appeared to be a scary neck injury. The good news is, in the end, Mende was only diagnosed with a mild concussion and should not miss too much time.
"Interesting because [Mende] was playing really well," Pavlik said. "He was scoring at will from the right side. We lost a little bit of his blocking and defense."
Without its setter and arguably its two best offensive players on the court, Penn State was forced to dip deeper into its bench than usual. Nathan Smith, Kyle Mackiewicz, Jalen Penrose and Frank Melvin all came off the bench, and Pavlik liked what he saw from them in replacement.
"They did a nice job," Pavlik said. "We're getting experience for these guys in crucial situations. The next step is going out there and finishing the situation. We brought ourselves back into the match but were unable to finish."
In particular, Melvin saw more time than usual against Harvard. With Albrecht gone, Lee Smith started the match, but was soon replaced in favor of Melvin after hitting -.071 through two sets. Melvin then entered and finished with 10 kills on 18 attempts.
"[Melvin's] offense has always been the best part of his game," Pavlik said. "Especially the last three or four weeks he's been doing a good job when we've thrown him in at practice and challenging the block. The energy he brought with him just kind of carried over to the rest of the guys."
Melvin added that he had fun being spontaneously thrown into a larger role and focused on bringing energy to the court.
"I think most of the guys can agree that's my personality," Melvin said. "I wanted to be a spark off the bench. I wish we could have pulled out the victory but given the circumstances, we did all right."
Melvin, now a redshirt sophomore, started his career as a preferred walk-on, but has gradually ascended into more of a contributing role each season for the Nittany Lions.
"He came in with a good jump and pretty explosive arm, but he hadn't played volleyball at a high level," Pavlik said. "He has really made strides with his blocking. He's still working on his first contact ball control, but that has gotten tons better than it was three years ago. He knows what his strengths are and he plays to those when he gets the opportunity."
Melvin added that the biggest improvements he has made in the last three years has been the mental nuances of volleyball that are often overlooked.
"When I came in I was always worried about making mistakes, kind of just overthinking everything, and then I just started to play with, as lame as it sounds, a have fun mentality," Melvin said. "I like to go out there and just bring energy."
Pavlik has made finishing a point of emphasis over the last few weeks, and Melvin mentioned that would be essential to beating first place George Mason, which swept the Nittany Lions at Rec Hall in February.
"We've talked about it in the gym the past couple of weeks, and it's kind of gotten to the point where we think about it a bit too much, but if we can just play it point by point, we can come out on top," Melvin said.
George Mason will likely be the top seed in the EIVA postseason tournament regardless of whether or not Penn State beats them this weekend. However, Pavlik and Melvin both agree that the Nittany Lions are capable of going toe to toe with any team in the country, and that they themselves will be their toughest opponent going forward.
"Obviously, we have some good teams left on our schedule, but a lot of this game is mental, and if we can get past the Penn State men's volleyball history, and just focus on the 21 guys in the gym right now, I think that will be the biggest thing to focus on."