LORETTO, Pa. – For the 35th time in program history, the Penn State men's volleyball team stand alone atop the EIVA regular season standings and clinched the 2022 conference regular-season title in its 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 25-18) road win at Saint Francis Saturday evening.
The No. 3/2 Nittany Lions (20-3) improve to 13-0 in the EIVA and will host the five-match EIVA Tournament April 20-23 at Rec Hall as the league's top seed.
To reach the conference regular-season pinnacle, Penn State had major contributions against the Red Flash (13-11, 6-7 EIVA) from senior outside hitter Brett Wildman, who aced a career-high seven serves to go with his match-high 12 kills and .550 hitting percentage.
Sophomore middle blocker Toby Ezeonu added nine kills with just one error to hit .615 in the match. Senior right-side hitter Cal Fisher also posted eight kills with two aces.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn State took the match's first mini run with a 3-0 spurt after a pair of errors by SFU and a kill by Sam Marsh to force an SFU timeout leading 15-11. The Red Flash managed to keep it close, but a big block by John Kerr forced another SFU timeout with Penn State on the edge of winning set one, 23-21.
Saint Francis thwarted two set points to tie the set at 24-all and force extra points. That's when Wildman took over for Penn State with three kills in the extra-point frame. An error by the Red Flash eventually gave PSU the 28-26 set-one win.
After ripping six kills in the first game, Wildman remained hot in the second set with a pair of service aces and three more kills to keep Penn State rolling. His two aces came back-to-back early in the frame to put Penn State in front 4-1.
Ezeonu had four of his nine kills in the second frame to give Penn State a 17-13 edge. From there, Penn State's lead built to as high as seven at 23-16. SFU used their block to shrink the margin, but the Nittany Lions closed the set with a 25-21 win to take the 2-0 lead.
The Wildman show continued early in set three as the senior ripped four aces in a row to immediately set the tone in what would be the final game. He wound up acing another serve late during Penn State's match-winning run to complete the match with seven.
Fisher had his most effective frame in the third with four kills and a .500 hitting percentage. His final kill allowed Wildman to step the service line with the Nittany Lions leading 22-18. After Wildman's ace, SFU had a pair of errors to end the match in PSU's favor with a 25-18 set three victory and overall 3-0 win.
MATCH NOTES AND STATS
- Wildman career-high ace performance shattered his previous high of four done four times. It was the most by a single player in a match for Penn State since Cal Fisher had seven against NJIT Feb. 13, 2021. His seven aces are tied for the fifth-most in a three-set match by any player in the country this season
- Penn State's 35th EIVA regular-season crown marks its second-straight. They've now finished atop the conference standings 36 times overall, including the 2020 season in which no champion was crowned due to the season's cancellation due to COVID-19.
- The Nittany Lions had nine aces in the match versus 18 service errors while not getting aced by the Red Flash at all. SFU also had 19 service errors.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions return home for their final regular-season home weekend with Senior Night scheduled for Friday, April 8 against St. Francis Brooklyn, followed by a Saturday matchup against NJIT April 9.