UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- No. 9 Penn State Men's Volleyball takes a break from EIVA play as it heads to the west coast for four matches against nationally-ranked teams. The first of those matches is at No. 2 Long Beach State on Friday at 10 p.m. ET.
Penn State enters at 12-3 overall following five straight wins over FDU, Princeton twice and NJIT twice. Long Beach State is 13-1 after three straight wins over Central State, Edward Waters and Lewis.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
#9 Penn State (12-3, 4-0 EIVA) at #2 Long Beach State (13-1, 0-0 Big West)
Date: Friday, March 1
Time: 10 p.m. ET
Place: Walter Pyramid (Long Beach, Calif.)
Live Stream: ESPN+
Stats: Live Stats
SERIES HISTORY
- Penn State and Long Beach State will meet for the 29th time. The teams first played in 1985.
- The Beach holds a 20-8 record in the series, including a 3-1 win at Rec Hall last season.
- Nineteen of the 28 matches in the series have been played at Long Beach State. Penn State is 7-12 in those matches, including a 3-2 win in 2022.
- Toby Ezeonu has hit .633 while averaging 2.44 kills/set and 0.89 blocks/set in two career matches against Long Beach State. He hit .941 (16-0-17) with five blocks in a 3-2 road win in 2022.
PENN STATE VS. BIG WEST
- Penn State is 42-64 all-time against current members of the Big West.
- Of those 106 matches, 78 (74 percent) were played on the west coast or in Hawaii.
- The Nittany Lions have played all six teams in the conference. They played Long Beach State the most (28 times) and UC San Diego the least (five times).
- Penn State went 2-2 against Big West teams last season. The Nittany Lions were 1-1 against Hawaii, beat UC Irvine, and lost to Long Beach State.
SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE
- Long Beach State is 13-1 after a three-match winning streak with victories over Central State, Edward Waters, and Lewis.
- Notable wins for the Beach this season include George Mason (3-1), NJIT (3-1), Pepperdine (3-0) and UCLA (3-1). Their lone loss came to UCLA (3-1).
- Long Beach State was ranked first in the nation for four consecutive weeks before being passed by Grand Canyon for the top spot in the AVCA Coaches Poll this week.
- The Beach rank first in the nation in opponent hitting percentage (.134). Lazar Bouchkov, a 6-6 freshman middle blocker, leads the nation in blocks/set (1.59).
EZEONU HITTING PERCENTAGE
- Toby Ezeonu enters the weekend with a career hitting percentage of .516 (546-83-897).
- That hitting percentage would rank second in program history, trailing only Keith Kowal's mark of .523 from 2002-05.
- In Ezeonu's time as a full-time starter for the Nittany Lions, he hit .528 as a sophomore, .490 as a junior, and an NCAA best .556 this season as a senior.
WEEKLY AWARDS
- Penn State players have combined to win one AVCA National Collegiate Player of the Week award (John Kerr), four EIVA Offensive Player of the Week honors (John Kerr, Michael Valenzi, Michal Kowal, Toby Ezeonu), two EIVA Defensive Player of the Week accolades (Toby Ezeonu, Ryan Merk), one Off the Block National Libero of the Week award (Ryan Merk), and two Off the Block National Middle of the Week honors (Toby Ezeonu 2x).
UP NEXT
- No. 9 Penn State plays three matches in California next week -- at CSUN on Tuesday, at USC on Wednesday, and vs. UCLA (at USC) on Friday.
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.