UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania - The Penn State men's volleyball is set for its first two-game weekend of the season featuring a marquee nonconference matchup versus fourth-ranked BYU at Rec Hall Friday evening and the first EIVA conference matchup of the year on the road at Saint Francis.
SUNDAY'S MATCH POSTPONED
Penn State's Sunday EIVA match at Saint Francis has been postponed due to harsh winter weather conditions. The match will now take place Monday, January 21, at 4 p.m. All of the links listed below are still viable to following the match.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
#4 BYU at Penn State
Date: Friday, January 18
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: Rec Hall, University Park, Pa.
Watch: LionVision
Statistics: Live Stats
Penn State at Saint Francis
Date: Monday, January 21 (Date Change)
Time: 4 p.m.
Place: DeGol Arena, Loretto, Pa.
Watch: NEC Front Row
Statistics: Live Stats
OPENING SERVE
The Nittany Lions picked up their first win of the season with a three-set sweep of North Greenville last Saturday on their home court. Penn State had seven players register at least three kills and eight players pick up kills overall in the dominating win.
The Nittany Lions welcome the national powerhouse Cougars to Rec Hall to begin the weekend. While these two storied programs have met 22 times before, Friday's match marks the first time ever the programs will face each other in Rec Hall. The Cougars are 2-0 with a pair of three-set sweeps over ranked opponents to begin the season. BYU took down No. 7 Ohio State last Thursday 2-0 on its home court before replicating the same result against No. 14 Ball State on Saturday.
Penn State's first conference road test of the season will be at Saint Francis in Loretto, Pa. Sunday evening. The Red Flash rank first in the early-season standings for the EIVA behind a perfect 3-0 record which it gathered in its home tournament, the Red Flash Invitational. Saint Francis took down Emmanuel College, Daemen College, and Alderson Broaddus in nine-straight sets combined.
ACES WILD
After leading the EIVA with 166 service aces as a squad in 2018, early indications in 2019 point to the serve as a weapon for PSU once again. The Nittany Lions are ranked second in NCAA with 2.43 service aces per set through two games in 2019. The Nittany Lions padded that stat with a healthy 13 aces against NGU last weekend, the most the team has had in a single game since 4/17/18 against George Mason in a five-set win. The last time Penn State had double-digit service aces in a three-set match was 4/14/17 against Charleston (10).
NEARING A COUPLE OF HOME MILESTONES
The Nittany Lions have 449 wins at Rec hall in their program history. Under head coach Mark Pavlik, the Nittany Lions have won 297 matches.
NEW GUYS IN HAPPY VALLEY
Penn State reached into to deep lineup in last Saturday's win with all five true freshmen getting significant playing time in the match. Read more on what the young Nittany Lions are doing to prepare for two more big games this weekend: Freshman Volleyball Players Getting Involved Early.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions will host two more nonconference home matches next weekend Jan. 25-26. Penn State will face McKendree Friday evening at 7 p.m. in the main gym before taking on Lindenwood Saturday evening in Rec Hall's south gym.
