UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 3 Penn State men's volleyball is the EIVA Tournament champion thanks to a 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-22) sweep over No. 15 Princeton on Saturday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions are headed to the National Collegiate Championship Tournament as the conference's automatic qualifier.
Penn State improved to 26-3 on the season. The Lions won the EIVA Tournament for the 35th time since the inaugural event in 1971. Twenty-three of those titles have come in Mark Pavlik's 29 seasons as head coach.
Cal Fisher was named the MVP of the tournament. He was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Brett Wildman, Cole Bogner, and Michal Kowal.
Fisher led all players with 12 kills in the win over Princeton and added two aces, five digs, and three blocks. Wildman tallied eight kills, four digs, and one ace. Bogner, who joins Fisher and Wildman as senior captains, led the team to .324 hitting with his 25 assists and also contributed a team-high six digs. Kowal finished with six kills, while Sam Marsh had three on his four swings.
Ryan Merk had five digs and chipped in with four assists. He helped hold Princeton to .054 hitting.
Penn State was successful in stopping a strong player in Ben Harrington, holding the sophomore to five kills on -.091 hitting. Harrington racked up 16 kills on .393 hitting in the semifinal win over NJIT and earned a spot on the all-tournament team.
The NC Men's Volleyball Selection Show will stream on NCAA.com on Sunday at 1 p.m. Penn State will find out what round it will start in and its potential opponent at that time.
Set 1
Penn State came out strong with the 25-14 win, making an early statement that the match wouldn't go the way it did last year when Princeton upset the Lions in the semifinal round. The Lions needed just 10 kills, scoring on six Princeton service errors and seven attack errors. Fisher picked up right where he left off from a great performance last match, totaling five kills on .833 hitting. The Lions hit .667 behind seven assists from Bogner.
Set 2
Fisher added four more kills and Kowal had three on .600 hitting to lead Penn State to a 25-18 win in set two. Bogner tallied 11 assists. The Lions used a 4-0 run that included kills by Will Kuhns and Owen Rose to go up 16-10. Princeton would get as close as four at 21-17, but the Lions responded with a 3-0 run with a kill by Fisher, an ace by Marsh, and a triple block by Fisher, Wildman, and Rose to take a 24-17 lead. Wildman eventually closed the set with a kill.
Set 3
Wildman took over in the final set with five kills on .500 hitting to lead Penn State to a 25-22 win. The Lions used a 3-0 run that was capped by a solo block from Marsh to go up 7-4 and then used another 3-0 run that was fueled by a pair of kills from Wildman to go up 10-6. The score was tied as late as 21-21 before the Lions came alive with a 3-0 run with a kill by Marsh that was followed by a kill and a solo block by Fisher. Marsh put the finishing touches on the title with an emphatic kill.
Up Next
Penn State will play in the NC Championship Tournament in Fairfax, Virginia.
