No. 14 Men's Volleyball Hosts No. 3 Hawaii Friday and SaturdayNo. 14 Men's Volleyball Hosts No. 3 Hawaii Friday and Saturday

No. 14 Men's Volleyball Hosts No. 3 Hawaii Friday and Saturday

It is Hawaii's first-ever regular season trip to Happy Valley

Opens in a new window Watch | B1G + Opens in a new window Live Stats Opens in a new window Match Notes Opens in a new window Know Before You Go Opens in a new window Winter Weekend Info

Series Breakdown

_Ath_Chip_282Reversed.png VS. St Thomas Aquinas.png

SERIES HISTORY
• Penn State and Hawaii will play for the 30th and 31st time in a series that began in 1995.
• The Nittany Lions are 10-19 all-time against the Rainbow Warriors but have played them at home just one time compared to 22 times in Honolulu.
• Hawaii has won each of the past three matches in the series, including twice last season -- once in Honolulu and the other in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament at Ohio State’s Covelli Center.
• Penn State’s last win in the series came in Honolulu in 2023.
• All 29 matches in the series were played during Mark Pavlik’s time as head coach of the Nittany Lions.

SERIES HISTORY VS. HAWAII (LAST 10)

Year Winner Score Location
2013 Penn State 3-2 Honolulu, Hawaii
2014 Hawaii 3-1 Honolulu, Hawaii
2015 Hawaii 3-0 Honolulu, Hawaii
2015 Penn State 3-1 Stanford, Calif.
2017 Hawaii 3-2 Columbus, Ohio
2018 Hawaii 3-0 Honolulu, Hawaii
2023 Penn State 3-1 Honolulu, Hawaii
2023 Hawaii 3-2 Fairfax, Va.
2025 Hawaii 3-0 Honolulu, Hawaii
2025 Hawaii 3-1 Columbus, Ohio

 

_Ath_Chip_282Reversed.png VS. Big West.png

PENN STATE VS. BIG WEST
• Penn State is 42-68 all-time against current members of the Big West.
• The Nittany Lions have played all six teams in the conference. Friday’s match is the 30th in the series with Hawaii, making the Rainbow Warriors the most played of the group.
• Penn State went 0-2 against the Big West last season with both losses coming to Hawaii.

Team Record Last Played Score
CSUN 9-5 2016 L, 3-1
Hawaii 10-19 2025 L, 3-1
Long Beach State 8-21 2024 L, 3-1
UC Irvine 6-9 2024 L, 3-0
UC San Diego 2-3 2020 L, 3-0
UCSB 7-11 2022 L, 3-0
Total 42-68    
Crowd_Ace

STREAKS TO WATCH

Sean Harvey
• 3 straight matches with double-digit kills

Ryan Merk
• 98 straight starts at libero

Owen Rose
• 3 straight matches with at least one ace

Match Notes

OPENING NOTES
• Penn State continues the 50th season in program history when it hosts No. 3 Hawaii on Friday and Saturday.
• It will be the first-ever regular season trip to Rec Hall for the Rainbow Warriors. They previously played the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley just one other time, beating them in the 2002 NCAA Tournament.
• Penn State is 62-6 at Rec Hall since the start of the 2021 season. The Nittany Lions are a perfect 4-0 at home this season with wins over Mount Olive, Manhattan, No. 9 Lewis, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

PENN STATE WHITE OUT
• Friday's match is the team's annual White Out.
• Penn State is 3-1 over its past three White Out matches, posting wins over Charleston and three over nationally-ranked Ohio State teams.

TOP OF THE CONFERENCE
• Penn State leads all EIVA teams in assists/set (11.43), blocks/set (2.48), digs/set (9.29), hitting percentage (.290), kills/set (12.29), winning percentage (.667), and opponent hitting percentage (.210).
• Individually, Jaxon Herr ranks first in the EIVA in assists/set (10.13), Owen Rose is first in blocks/set (1.10), and Gaige Gabriel is first in hitting percentage (.360).

PAVLIK'S LAST SEASON
• Mark Pavlik announced prior to the season that this season, his 32nd as the head coach of Penn State, will be his last.
• Pavlik is just the third head coach in the 50 seasons of Penn State men’s volleyball. 

PAVLIK'S RESUME
• 2008 National Champion
• 1x AVCA National Coach of the Year
• 25 EIVA Tournament titles
• 27 EIVA regular season title
• 10x EIVA Coach of the Year
• 698 wins ranks fourth in the history of collegiate men's volleyball and first amongst current coaches.

WHO CAN ACE MERK?
• Just one player has managed to get an ace on a serve to Penn State libero Ryan Merk this season. The redshirt senior has had 114 serves come his way.
• The lone ace credited against Merk came on a 73 mph rip by Lewis’s Gauthier Brozak.

IN THE POLL
• Penn State was ranked No. 14 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll and has been ranked in each of the first four polls of this season.
• The Nittany Lions have appeared in the Coaches Poll for a total of 612 of the 648 weeks since the rankings debuted in 1986. That stands as the fifth most of any program in the nation.

MILESTONE STARTS
• Redshirt seniors Ryan Merk (libero) and Owen Rose (middle blocker) are both nearing 100 career starts.
• Merk has started all 98 matches of his career and is expected to reach 100 in the match against No. 3 Hawaii on Saturday.
• Rose has started 97 of the 98 matches of his career, giving way to a teammate celebrating Senior Day during his redshirt freshman season. Rose is expected to reach 100 career starts against Saint Francis at Rec Hall on Feb. 6.

SCOUTING HAWAII
• Hawaii is ranked No. 3 in the AVCA Coaches Poll and is 8-1 overall following five straight wins over Roberts Wesleyan (3-0), Rockhurst (3-1), Rockhurst (3-0), Roberts Wesleyan (3-0), and Saint Francis (3-0). The Rainbow Warriors lone loss came 3-1 to Loyola Chicago in Honolulu.
• The Rainbow Warriors were picked second out of six teams in the Big West Preseason Coaches Poll. Junior setter Tread Rosenthal, sophomore outside hitter Adrien Roure, and sophomore opposite Kristian Titriyski were named to the Big West Preseason Coaches’ Team.
• Rosenthal ranks first in the Big West and second nationally in assists/set (10.65). Roure ranks first in the conference and 10th nationally in hitting percentage (.456).
• Hawaii has won three of the past four Big West Tournament titles.