No. 15 Men's Volleyball Set for Two Matches at Sacred HeartNo. 15 Men's Volleyball Set for Two Matches at Sacred Heart

No. 15 Men's Volleyball Set for Two Matches at Sacred Heart

Penn State is unbeaten at 8-0 in the conference

Opens in a new window Watch: Friday Opens in a new window Watch: Saturday Opens in a new window Live Stats

Series Breakdown

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SERIES HISTORY
• Penn State and Sacred Heart will meet for the 28th and 29th time in a series that began in 2004.
• The Nittany Lions lead 25-2 in the all-time series, including wins in each of the past 13 matchups. The Pioneers’ last win in the series came in Fairfield in 2017.
• Penn State is 11-1 in road matches against Sacred Heart.
• Sean Harvey has hit .444 with 4.14 kills/set and 1.29 digs/set in two career matches against Sacred Heart. Owen Rose has hit .632 with 2.00 kills/set and 1.00 blocks/set in his two matches against the Pioneers.

SERIES HISTORY VS. SACRED HEART (LAST 10)

Year Winner Score Location
2019 Penn State 3-0 Fairfield, Conn.
2020 Penn State 3-2 Fairfield, Conn.
2021 Penn State 3-1 Fairfield, Conn.
2021 Penn State 3-1 Fairfield, Conn.
2021 Penn State 3-0 Rec Hall
2021 Penn State 3-0 Rec Hall
2022 Penn State 3-0 Fairfield, Conn.
2022 Penn State 3-0 Rec Hall
2025 Penn Sate 3-0 Rec Hall
2025 Penn State 3-1 Rec Hall

 

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PENN STATE VS. EIVA
• Penn State is 328-38 all-time against current members of the EIVA.
• The Nittany Lions have won at least 87 percent of the matches in the series with all six teams.
• Penn State has won its most recent match against all six EIVA opponents.

Team Record Last Played Score
Charleston 22-1 2026 W, 3-0
George Mason 122-18 2025 W, 3-2
Harvard 30-4 2026 W, 3-1
NJIT 58-3 2026 W, 3-0
Princeton 71-10 2026 W, 3-0
Sacred Heart 25-2 2025 W, 3-2
Total 328-38    
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STREAKS TO WATCH

Ryan Merk
• 115 straight starts at libero

Owen Rose
• 88 straight starts at middle blocker

Bennett Wilson
• 5 straight matches with at least one ace

Team
• 12 straight wins against EIVA opponents

Match Notes

OPENING NOTES
• Penn State, competing in the 50th season in program history, goes on the road for the final time of the regular season when it travels to Fairfield, Connecticut for two matches against Sacred Heart on Friday and Saturday.
• The Nittany Lions are 8-0 in the conference and a hold a two-match lead over second-place George Mason in the standings.
• Following the matches at Sacred Heart, Penn State closes the regular season at home against George Mason on April 17-18.
• Penn State can clinch the EIVA regular season title this weekend with two wins and a George Mason loss OR one win and two George Mason losses. The Patriots host last-place Princeton for a pair of matches this weekend.
• The regular season champion earns hosting rights for the EIVA Tournament on April 22-25.

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

SCOUTING SACRED HEART
• Sacred Heart is 10-11 overall and 3-5 in the EIVA after sweeping its two-match series with Princeton last weekend.
• The Pioneers already have four more overall wins and three more conference wins than last season with at least four matches left to play.
• Sacred Heart was picked seventh in the EIVA Preseason Poll. Junior outside hitter Aleksa Mandic and sophomore libero Harryzen Soares were named Players to Watch.
• Mandic ranks first in the conference and 11th nationally in aces/set (0.49).

IN THE POLL
• Penn State was ranked No. 15 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll and has been ranked in each of the first 13 polls of this season.
• The Nittany Lions have appeared in the Coaches Poll for a total of 621 of the 657 weeks since the rankings debuted in 1986. That stands as the fifth most of any program in the nation.

CAREER HIGHS SET LAST WEEK
at Charleston - Friday
Matthew Luoma - aces (4)

BEST IN BLOCKS
• Penn State leads the nation in blocks/set (2.85) thanks in large part to Owen Rose, who leads the nation individually in the category with 1.44/set.
• 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 added another double-digit block performance with 10 in a sweep over Charleston last week.