UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State men's volleyball student-athletes Brett Wildman and Will Bantle swept the EIVA's weekly awards for this past week, with Wildman winning Offensive Player of the Week and Bantle taking home Defensive Player of the Week honors as announced by the league office Monday afternoon.
Both Wildman and Bantle were integral parts of the Nittany Lions' two-win weekend at No. 12 Loyola Chicago and No. 5 Lewis.
Wildman paced Penn State with 31 kills and a .338 hitting percentage (31-9-55) while adding five service aces and four total blocks. The sophomore outside hitter from Virginia Beach, Virginia had a team-high 17 kills at a .364 clip in the two-set down comeback win over Lewis Saturday evening and had a game-best 14 put downs at Loyola Chicago the night before.
Wildman was also excellent defensively with eight digs and only one reception error all weekend. He was a perfect 35-35 on serve receive against Lewis. He ranks second in the EIVA in kills per set at 3.64 through four matches.
Bantle was Penn State's anchor defensively for the weekend, highlighted by a standout performance Saturday at Lewis. The redshirt sophomore libero had a personal single-game best 19 digs and was excellent with his passing, going a perfect 22-22 on serve receive for the match.
Bantle, from Pacific Palisades, Calif., went 33-33 on his serve reception for the weekend and tacked on seven assists. He leads the conference with 2.57 digs per set through four matches.
The weekly awards the first for both in their careers. This also marks the first time the Nittany Lions have swept the EIVA weekly awards since Feb. 5, 2018 when Jalen Penrose and Kevin Gear won both awards for Penn State
Wildman, Bantle and the 10th-ranked Nittany Lions play host to the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge this coming weekend Jan. 24 and 26. Penn State and Ohio State will both play matches against UCLA and USC, with the Nittany Lions taking on the Bruins Friday evening at 7 p.m. and the Trojans Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. All matches will be played at Rec Hall and will be streamed live on BTN-Plus.
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.
