April 5, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's volleyball team will close out the road portion of its regular season with trips to Charleston (W.Va.) and George Mason this weekend. The Nittany Lions will take on the Golden Eagles at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 6 before traveling to face the Patriots on Saturday, April 7 at 7 p.m. in a pair of EIVA contests.
Follow Along
Fans can follow along with each match on Twitter (@PennStateMVball) or click on the links for live stats and live video on the right sidebar.
Quick Notes: Penn State
- Penn State enters the weekend with a 12-9 overall mark and a 7-3 record in EIVA competition, needing one victory to secure a spot in the EIVA Championships.
- After winning seven of eight matches to run its record to 10-3, the Nittany Lions dropped five in a row - including four-straight to top-10 ranked foes - before beating St. Francis (Pa.) on March 18. Penn State split a pair of matches last weekend, defeating Sacred Heart (3-1) and falling in five sets at Harvard.
NCAA Career Leaders
Penn State men's volleyball has long been among the most storied programs in the sports history and some current Nittany Lions are ranking among the career active leaders in the NCAA.
The following five Nittany Lions are among the top-25 of the active NCAA Division I-II student-athletes in a bevy of categories;
Luke Braswell - S, R-So.
Assists Per Set - 10.12 - 3rd
Assists - 1,711 - 22nd
Royce Clemens - L, R-Jr.
Digs - 757 - 4th
Digs Per Set - 2.43 - 8th
Kevin Gear - MB, R-Sr.
Total Blocks - 231 - 19th
Blocks Per Set - 0.91 - 21st
Calvin Mende - OPP, R-So.
Kills Per Set - 3.25 - 13th
Hitting Percentage - .304 - 17th
Jalen Penrose - MB, R-Sr.
Service Aces - 110 - 9th
Service Aces Per Set - 0.354 - 12th
Matches Played - 100 - 19th
Tough From the Line
- Penn State enters the weekend atop the EIVA and No. 6 nationally in service aces per set. The Nittany Lions are averaging 1.70 aces per set and out-acing the opposition 138-104 on the year.
- In 21 matches, Penn State has posted 7-or-more service aces on 11 occasions, owning a 8-3 mark in those contests. On the flip side of that, Nittany Lion opponents own just six such matches.
- On March 31 at Harvard, the Nittany Lions collected 13 service aces, including a school-record-tying nine from redshirt-senior Jalen Penrose.
- The Penrose effort ties John Wasielewski's total during the 1990 season.
- The 13 service aces are the most since the Nittany Lions registered 15 at Ball State on April 17, 2009.
- Three Penn Staters sit among the top-40 in the NCAA in service aces per set, led by Penrose at No. 2 (0.644 aps). Redshirt-senior Aidan Albrecht is No. 21 (0.418) and redshirt-junior Matthew McLaren is No. 37 (0.367).
Notable Streaks
- Here are a few Nittany Lions with notable streaks entering this weekend's competition at Charleston (W.Va.) and George Mason.
- Redshirt-senior Kevin Gear has at least one block in 15-straight matches. Gear has at least one block in 19 of 21 matches played, including 18 matches with at least two blocks.
- Redshirt-sophomore Calvin Mende has reached double-digits in the kill column in seven-straight matches, including a 20-kill effort at Sacred Heart.
- Redshirt-senior Jalen Penrose has a three-match streak with at least one service ace, including at least one ace in 17 of 21 games this year.
- After starting the year with three digs vs. Mount Olive (1/12), redshirt-junior Royce Clemens has at least five digs in 20-straight matches, including seven double-digit dig efforts.
Quick Notes: Charleston (W.Va.)
- Charleston (W.Va.) enters the weekend winners of two-straight to push its record to 13-8 overall. The Golden Eagles are 3-7 in the EIVA and are in the midst of a seven-match losing streak, with its last win coming on Feb. 23 at Saint Francis (Pa.) to cap a 3-0 start in conference play.
- Charleston (W.Va.) leads the country in digs per set as a team at 10.39 and its 2.33 blocks per set rank No. 17 nationally. Those two factors are helping the Golden Eagles limit the opposition to a .219 hitting percentage this season, which sits No. 11 in the NCAA.
- Senior Ryan Santos leads the attack for UC with 3.01 points per set and 2.48 kills per set. Freshman Max Senica (2.46 kps) and junior Brandon Greenway (2.08 kps) also average over two kills per set this season.
- Series history and team comparison on Page 3
Last Time Out: at Penn State 3, Charleston (W.Va.) 0 (2/24/18)
No. 7 Penn State swept past Charleston (W.Va.) 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-15) on Saturday night inside Rec Hall.
Penn State throttled the offense of the Golden Eagles holding Charleston (W.Va.) to hitting percentages of .217, .238, and 0.80, respectively, in the three sets.
The Nittany Lions never trailed in the match, taking the opening point of each set to move to 5-0 all-time versus the Golden Eagles dating back to the first match in 2016 when UC joined the conference.
Aidan Albrecht led the offense with eight kills in addition to three service aces, two digs, and two blocks.
Jalen Penrose, the Mike Anderson Player of the Match, led the team with five service aces, adding six kills, two digs, and three blocks.
Quick Notes: George Mason
- George Mason sits in the driver's seat to host the EIVA Championship on April 19-21, entering the weekend with a 14-10 overall record, which includes a perfect 10-0 start to EIVA play.
- The Patriots don't stand out in one specific area as a team, but rank among the top-30 nationally in aces (16; 1.52), assists (14; 11.48), blocks (22; 2.15) and kills (11; 12.37) per set, along with hitting percentage (13; .278) and opponent hitting percentage (29; .252) on the year.
- Sophomore Hayden Wagner leads the EIVA and ranks No. 11 nationally in both kills per set (3.74) and points per set (4.47). Wagner adds 0.42 services aces per set and 0.57 blocks per set.
- Graduate student Johnny Gomez ranks No. 7 nationally and No. 2 in the EIVA with 2.68 digs per set, while the 7.4 blocks per match as a team include nearly two blocks per match from sophomore Bryce Gatling.
Last Time Out: George Mason 3, at Penn State 0 (2/23/18)
No. 7 Penn State dropped its first conference match of the season 3-0 (22-25, 19-25, 22-25) to George Mason on Friday night in Rec Hall falling to 3-1 in EIVA play on the season.
The Patriots brought a stiff defense to Rec Hall finishing the night with 10.0 team blocks as well as five athletes posting at least three blocks including a match-high five by Bryce Gatling.
Penn State led for the majority of the opening set before finding themselves in a tie with the Patriots at 19-19. Back-to-back points for George Mason cued a Penn State timeout, and a 2-1 run out of the break for George Mason forced the second Penn State timeout. George Mason scored two of the next three points to close out a 25-22 set one win.
A slow start to the second set saw Penn State down by as ,many as seven, 12-5, before the Nittany Lions rallied late to cut into the lead before falling 25-19 in set two.
Set three saw the two squads go point-for-point through nearly the entire set, as they two squads sat tied at 20 apiece. George Mason capped the set with five of the final seven points to grab the 3-0 victory.
Calvin Mende posted a team-best seven kills, while Kevin Gear chipped in six and Matthew McLaren added five. Gear, McLaren and Luke Braswell each added two blocks.
Royce Clemens posted 12 digs in the three sets.
A complete game note packet can be found by clicking here.