UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State was the unanimous pick to win the 2026 EIVA title in a vote of the conference’s coaches. The poll was released on Monday along with a list of Players to Watch, which included the Nittany Lions’ Ryan Merk and Owen Rose.
Penn State received all seven first-place votes to finish atop the preseason poll, coming in ahead of NJIT (34 points) and George Mason (32) in second and third. Rounding out the poll were Princeton (26), Charleston (22), Harvard (22), and Sacred Heart (11).
Princeton won last year’s regular season title, but Penn State put it together at the right time. The Nittany Lions swept all three matches in the EIVA Tournament to win the championship as the third-seeded team.
Merk is a three-time All-American for the Nittany Lions, earning second team recognition in as a sophomore and honorable mention status as a freshman and junior. The libero is a three-time first-team All-EIVA selection.
Rose was an AVCA honorable mention All-American as a sophomore in 2024. He is also a three-time All-EIVA selection, making the first team as a freshman and sophomore and the second team last season as a junior.
Merk and Rose are the team’s two captains this season.
Penn State opens the 2026 season with four straight home matches. The Nittany Lions host Mount Olive (Jan. 9), Manhattan (Jan. 10), St. Thomas Aquinas (Jan. 15), and Lewis (Jan. 17) during that stretch.