UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's volleyball team was picked second in the 2020 EIVA Preseason Coaches' Poll as announced by the conference office Monday afternoon.
Penn State is coming off a 15-15 season in 2019 with a 10-4 mark in EIVA play that placed them third in the regular-season standings. The Nittany Lions advanced to the EIVA Championship match and fell in five sets to preseason-favorite Princeton.
Below is the full preseason coaches' poll:
1. Princeton (7 first-place votes)
2. Penn State
3. George Mason
4. NJIT (1 first-place vote)
5. Harvard
6. Saint Francis
7. Charleston
8. Sacred Heart
Coaches also listed a pair of "Players to Watch" from their respective squads, with Coach Mark Pavlik listing senior opposite hitter Calvin Mende and sophomore outside hitter Brett Wildman.
Mende looks to rebound for the Nittany Lions after injuries limited the 6-11 lefty in 2019. The Redlands, Calif., native played in 18 matches last season with 113 kills and a .286 hitting percentage. Mende led the Nittany Lions in either kills or kills per set in 2017 and 2018 and was an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention both of those seasons.
Wildman emerged as one of the conference's most dynamic hitters in the latter half of the 2019 season. The Virginia Beach, Va., native was an All-EIVA Honorable Mention selection before being named to the EIVA All-Tournament Team after posting 46 kills in two games.
Wildman played for both the USA Volleyball Junior National Team at the Pan Am Cup in Peru as well as the United States World University Games team in Naples, Italy over the summer.
Penn State enters the 2020 season ranked No. 15 in the AVCA Preseason Poll and returns nine players who started at least five matches in 2019. Nittany Lion returners include 2019 All-EIVA performers Jason Donorovich, Henrik Falck Lauten, Will Bantle, and Wildman. This year's senior class includes Donorovich, Falck Lauten, Mende, Luke Braswell, and Nathan Smith.
The Nittany Lions begin the season with a pair of matches in Provo, Utah against No. 3 BYU Jan. 10-11.
For more information on Penn State men's volleyball, follow the Nittany Lions on Twitter @PennStateMVBALL and Instagram @pennstatemvball and "like" the Penn State men's volleyball page on Facebook.
