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Mark Selders

No. 4 Men's Volleyball Set for Two Top-10 Opponents at Rec Hall

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The fourth-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team continues its challenging non-conference schedule this weekend as it hosts No. 10 USC and No. 2 UCLA for the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge. No. 13 Ohio State will also play the Trojans and Bruins at the event.

BIG TEN/PAC-13 CHALLENGE SCHEDULE
Friday
4 p.m. | No. 13 Ohio State vs. No. 2 UCLA | Live Stats | Watch
7 p.m. | No. 10 USC at No. 4 Penn State | Live Stats | Watch
 
Saturday
4 p.m. | No. 13 Ohio State vs. No. 10 USC | Live Stats | Watch
7 p.m. | No. 2 UCLA at No. 4 Penn State | Live Stats | Watch


PARKING
• Parking for all Penn State Athletics' non-football events will require a valid permit or payment of the applicable parking fee for campus lots. Fans with valid Penn State University Park parking permits will be permitted to park at non-football athletics events for free, following Transportation Services parking policies and access.
• Parking for men's volleyball matches, fans are asked to park in the Nittany Deck or West Deck. Fans without a permit are encouraged to prepay for event parking at a discounted rate of $6.00 through ParkMobile - https://psu.parkmobile.io/. Prepayment is available through 11:59 p.m. the day prior to each event. Event day parking will be $10 per vehicle and is cash only/can be purchased on the ParkMobile app.
•Parking for all non-football athletics events is managed by Penn State Transportation Services. For more information or questions, visit transportation.psu.edu or email parking@psu.edu.

CLEAR BAG POLICY

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SERIES HISTORY - USC

  • Penn State is 11-20 in the all-time series with USC. The teams first played in 1980.
  • The Lions have won five of the last seven matchups with the Trojans dating back to 2015.
  • Penn State is 5-1 in matches played at Rec Hall. The most recent of those home wins came in 2020 by a 3-2 (23-25, 29-27, 27-29, 25-23, 15-12). Brett Wildman hit .486 with 19 kills and two aces in that match. Cole Bogner had 53 assists while leading the team to .371 hitting.


SCOUTING USC

  • USC is 6-2 overall and ranked No. 10 in the AVCA Coaches Poll following a 3-2 win over UC Santa Barbara and a 3-1 win over CSUN.
  • Kyle Paulson ranks fourth in the MPSF in blocks/set (0.97), while Dillon Klein ranks fourth in kills/set (3.60).
  • The Trojans tied with Grand Canyon for fourth in the MPSF Preseason Coaches Poll.


SERIES HISTORY - UCLA

  • Penn State is 7-32-1 in the all-time series with UCLA. The teams first played in 1982.
  • The Lions are 1-3 against the Bruins at Rec Hall.
  • Penn State won the most recent match against UCLA at Rec Hall 3-0 (25-22, 29-27, 26-24) in 2020. Wildman hit .450 with 12 kills and seven digs. Bogner had 38 assists while leading the Lions to .500 hitting.


SCOUTING UCLA

  • UCLA is 8-0 overall and is ranked No. 2 in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
  • The Bruins have lost just one set this season. That came in a 3-1 win over Princeton on Jan. 13.
  • UCLA ranks first in the MPSF in aces/set (2.36), digs/set (9.28), and opponent hitting percentage (.167). Alex Knight ranks second individually in blocks/set (1.24).


PENN STATE NOTES & STATS

  • Penn State remained at fourth in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll following a 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 26-24, 27-25) to No. 3 Long Beach State last week.
  • The Lions have been ranked fourth in the nation in each of the first five editions of the national rankings.
  • Penn State is in the middle of an extremely challenging stretch of the schedule. This weekend's opponents will mark the fourth and fifth-straight matches against top-10 teams. The Lions defeated No. 4 Pepperdine and No. 8 Stanford before falling to The Beach. USC is ranked 10th, while UCLA is second in the latest poll.
  • The Lions are ranked first in the EIVA and seventh in the nation in aces/set (2.08). Michal Kowal, John Kerr, and Toby Ezeonu are third, fourth, and fifth individually.
  • Penn State is averaging 12.12 assists/set, which ranks first in the EIVA and fourth in the nation. Bogner leads the charge with 10.54 assists/set, which leads the conference and ranks third in the nation.
  • Kerr and Owen Rose continue to have breakout seasons for the Lions. Kerr ranks first in the EIVA in 4.95 points/set. Rose comes in at first in the conference in blocks/set (1.31).
  • Wildman enters the weekend needing just two kills to reach 1,000 for his career. He would become the 22nd player in program history to reach the milestone and the first since Aaron Russell in 2015.
  • Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik enters the weekend with 634 career wins. He needs just one more to tie Patrick Dorywalski, who coached at Stevens from 1990-2020, for fourth on the all-time wins list. Pavlik is the active leader in career wins.


UP NEXT

  • Penn State goes on the road to play Saint Francis on Feb. 11, at 7 p.m.


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.