No. 17 Men's Volleyball Plays No. 15 Ohio State Wednesday in PittsburghNo. 17 Men's Volleyball Plays No. 15 Ohio State Wednesday in Pittsburgh

No. 17 Men's Volleyball Plays No. 15 Ohio State Wednesday in Pittsburgh

Penn State plays its final non-conference opponent of the regular season

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Series Breakdown

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SERIES HISTORY
• Penn State and Ohio State will meet for the 124th time. The teams first played in 1978.
• The Nittany Lions leads the series 82-40-1.

SERIES HISTORY VS. OHIO STATE (LAST 10)

Year Winner Score Location
2021 Ohio State 3-0 Ohio State
2021 Penn State 3-0 Rec Hall
2021 Penn State 3-0 Rec Hall
2022 Penn State 3-0 Ohio State
2022 Penn State 3-1 Rec Hall
2023 Penn State 3-1 Ohio State
2023 Ohio State 3-2 Rec Hall
2023 Penn State 3-1 George Mason
2024 Penn Sate 3-1 Ohio State
2024 Penn State 3-2 Rec Hall

 

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PENN STATE VS. MIVA
• Penn State is 230-121-1 all-time against current members of the MIVA.
• The Nittany Lions have played seven of the nine teams and have a winning record against five of them. Only Loyola Chicago and McKendree hold a winning record against the Nittany Lions.
• Penn State is 1-2 against the MIVA this season with a 3-1 win over then-No. 9 Lewis at Rec Hall and a pair of losses at McKendree.

Team Record Last Played Score
Ball State 63-28 2025 L, 2-3
Lewis 24-17 2026 W, 3-1
Lindenwood 1-0 2019 W, 3-0
Loyola Chicago 13-16 2025 L, 1-3
McKendree 1-2 2026 L, 1-3
Northern Kentucky 0-0 -- --
Ohio State 82-40-1 2024 W, 3-2
Purdue Fort Wayne 46-17 2024 L, 2-3
Queens 0-0 -- --
Total 230-118-1    

 

EUT_8992

STREAKS TO WATCH

Sean Harvey
• 2 straight matches with double-digit kills

Ryan Merk
• 110 straight starts at libero

Owen Rose
• 83 straight starts at middle blocker

Team
• 8 straight wins against EIVA opponents

Match Notes

OPENING NOTES
• No. 17 Penn State, competing in the 50th season in program history, plays its final non-conference match of the regular season when it travels to Pittsburgh FItzgerald Field House to take on No. 15 Ohio State.
• Wednesday marks the first meeting between the teams since 2024 after last season's two matchups were canceled due to illness.

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
• 705 wins ranks fourth in the history of collegiate men's volleyball and first amongst current coaches.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE
• Ohio State is ranked 15th in the nation and is 12-9 overall following three sraight wins. The streak includes victories over Purdue Fort Wayne (3-0), Loyola Chicago (3-1), and Lewis (3-0).
• The Buckeyes were picked second in the MIVA Preseason Poll. Sophomore outside hitter Stanislaw Chacinski and senior opposite Shane Wetzel were named to the Preseason All-MIVA Team.
• Wetzel ranks first in the MIVA in attacks/set (7.71). 

IN THE POLL
• Penn State was ranked No. 17 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll and has been ranked in each of the first 11 polls of this season.
• The Nittany Lions have appeared in the Coaches Poll for a total of 619 of the 655 weeks since the rankings debuted in 1986. That stands as the fifth most of any program in the nation.

CAREER HIGHS SET LAST MATCH
at USC
Bennett Wilson - blocks (2)

RECORD FOR ROSE
Owen Rose needed just three sets to a set a program record with 14 blocks, including four solo, in a sweep over Harvard on Feb. 20.
• Rose’s 14 blocks broke the previous record of 13 accomplished by Kevin Hourican against Rutgers Newark during the sideout scoring era in 1995, Keith Kowal against Princeton during the rally scoring era in 2005, and Nate Meerstein vs. UC Irvine during the rally scoring era in 2006.
• Rose currently (1.33) ranks first nationally in blocks/set.