UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State Men's Volleyball is back at Rec Hall for the second-straight week to open the season as it hosts Lees-McRae on Thursday at 7 p.m., and King University on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Nittany Lions are 2-0 following wins over Central State and No. 16 Lewis, while both the Bobcats and Tornado open the 2024 season this week. Both opponents are members of Conference Carolinas.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Lees-McRae (0-0, 0-0 CC) at No. 7 Penn State (2-0, 0-0 EIVA)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 11
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: Rec Hall
Live Stream: B1G+
Stats: Live Stats
King University (0-0, 0-0 CC) at No. 7 Penn State (2-0, 0-0 EIVA)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 13
Time: 4 p.m.
Place: Rec Hall
Live Stream: B1G+
Stats: Live Stats
SERIES HISTORY - LEES-MCRAE
- Penn State and Lees-McRae will play for the third time in program history.
- The Nittany Lions won each of the previous two meetings at Rec Hall, winning 3-2 in 2011 and 3-0 in 2013.
SCOUTING LEES-MCRAE
- Thursday's match is the season opener for the Bobcats. They went 11-15 overall and 7-7 in Conference Carolinas last season.
- Lees-McRae was picked seventh out of eight teams in the Conference Carolinas Preseason Poll.
- Senior opposite Nicholas Brewster, junior middle blocker Sebastian Heer, and sophomore libero Ben Ratliff were named Players to Watch by the conference.
SERIES HISTORY - KING
- Penn State and King will play for the first time.
SCOUTING KING
- King opens the season at NJIT on Friday before making the trip to Happy Valley. The Tornado went 16-16 overall and 8-6 in Conference Carolinas last season. It won the conference tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament, where it fell to Ohio State in the Opening Round.
- King was picked third out of eight teams in the Conference Carolinas Preseason Poll.
- Senior outside hitter Warren Davis, senior setter AJ Drooker, and senior middle blocker Kellan Kennedy were named Players to Watch by the conference. Davis was an honorable mention All-American and first-team All-Conference Carolinas selection last season. Kennedy was a second-team All-Conference Carolinas honoree.
PENN STATE NOTES
- John Kerr was named the AVCA National Collegiate Player of the Week and the EIVA Offensive Player of the Week after hitting .443 and averaging 6.29 point/set and 5.43 kills/set in wins over Central State and No. 16 Lewis last week. In the win over Lewis, Kerr went off for 31 kills, nine digs and four aces, all of which were career highs. The 31 kills were the most in a match by a Nittany Lion since Aaron Russell's 32 in a five-set match against Ball State in 2015.
- Ryan Merk was lauded as the National Libero of the Week by Off the Block after averaging 2.75 digs/set over the two matches last week. He stepped up with a career-high 14 digs in the five-set win over Lewis.
- Toby Ezeonu had a perfect night offensively for Penn State in the sweep over Central State. The middle blocker totaled 10 kills with no errors on 10 swings. He became just the fourth player in program history to post a perfect hitting percentage with at least 10 attacks in a match.
- Penn State leads the EIVA in assists/set (13.00), digs/set (8.38), hitting percentage (.392), and kills/set (13.62).
- Freshman Michael Schwob ranks second in the nation in assists/set (11.57). He racked up 59 in the win over Lewis.
UP NEXT
- Penn State travels to Austin, Texas for the First Point Collegiate Challenge. The Nittany Lions play No. 8 Stanford on Friday, January 19, and No. 1 UCLA on Saturday, Jan. 20.
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.