No. 20 Men's Volleyball Set for Home-and-Home with Saint Francis Friday and Saturday
Penn State will raise the 2024 EIVA Championship banner prior to Saturday's match at Rec Hall
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- No. 20 Penn State Men's Volleyball takes on Saint Francis in a home-and-home non-conference series this week. The Nittany Lions travel to Loretto for a match on Friday at 7 p.m., and then host the Red Flash on Saturday at 4 p.m.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Friday, Feb. 14 – 7 p.m.
#20 Penn State (1-7, 1-1 EIVA) at Saint Francis (1-8, 0-0 NEC) | Live Stats | Watch
Saturday, Feb. 15 – 4 p.m. ET
Saint Francis (1-8, 0-0 NEC) at #20 Penn State (1-7, 0-0 EIVA) | Live Stats | Watch
OPENING NOTES
• Penn State looks to gain momentum after its first win of the season last match as it prepares for a pair of non-conference matches against Saint Francis.
• The Nittany Lions went through a gauntlet to start the season with their first six matches coming against teams ranked no lower than 14th in the nation. The tough stretch then continued with an EIVA road loss to Harvard before they bounced back with their first win of the season with a sweep over the Crimson.
• Adding to the difficulty of the team’s schedule, Penn State’s first nine matches of the season are away from Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions have already played matches in Illinois, Texas, Ohio, and Massachusetts. They add a road match in Pennsylvania Friday against the Red Flash before finally playing their home opener on Friday, Feb. 15 -- more than a month since the start of the season.
SERIES HISTORY
• Penn State and Saint Francis will meet for the 58th and 59th time. The teams first played in 1994.
• The Nittany Lions are 54-3 in the all-time series, including a current 15-match winning streak. Their last loss to the Red Flash came on the road in 2017.
• Penn State is 29-2 at home against the Red Flash, with the last loss coming in 2016. The Nittany Lions are 23-1 on the road in the series.
• Fifty of the matches in the series have come with Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik and Saint Francis head coach Mike Rumbaugh on the sideline.
• Three of the past four matches in the series went five sets.
SCOUTING SAINT FRANCIS
• Saint Francis, the defending regular season champion in the NEC, is 1-8 following four straight losses to Princeton (3-2), NJIT (3-0), Purdue Fort Wayne (3-0), and Lincoln Memorial (3-2).
• The Red Flash were picked first in the NEC Preseason Poll.
• Saint Francis returns the reigning NEC Player of the Year in 6-7 senior opposite Nathan Zini. The Red Flash also return 6-5 senior outside hitter Andrew Deardorff, who was a first-team All-NEC selection last season.
PENN STATE VS. NEC
• Penn State is 56-3 all-time against current members of the NEC. Fifty-seven of the 59 matches came against Saint Francis.
• The Nittany Lions have played Daemen once and won 3-0 in 2023 and have played FDU once, which was a 3-1 win in 2024. They have not played D’Youville or LIU.
• Penn State went 3-0 against the NEC last season with two wins over Saint Francis and one over FDU.
REC HALL WINNING STREAK
• The Nittany Lions own a lengthy winning streak at Rec Hall, winning 19 straight at home dating back to the 2023 season. The Nittany Lions’ last home loss came to Ohio State on March 21, 2023.
CAREER HIGHS SET LAST WEEKEND
at Harvard (Friday)
• Josh Rosenblum - assists (13), digs (1)
at Harvard (Saturday)
• Matt Cosgrove - blocks (3)
• Gaige Gabriel - aces (2)
• Will Kuhns - kills (16)
• Matthew Luoma - blocks (4)
STREAKS TO WATCH
Ryan Merk
• 67 straight starts at libero
UP NEXT
• Penn State returns to EIVA play with a pair of matches at No. 19 NJIT. The teams play on Friday at 6 p.m., and again on Saturday at 7 p.m.
• The Highlanders are 6-2 overall and 1-0 in the EIVA following six straight wins over Roberts Wesleyan (3-0), Queens (3-2), Saint Francis (3-0), LIU (3-0), Dominican (3-0), and George Mason (3-2).