LOS ANGELES, Calif. – No. 15 Penn State pushed No. 6 UC Irvine to five sets Friday night before falling 3-2 (25-18, 27-29, 19-25, 25-17, 15-13) in the Regional Round of the 2026 NC Men’s Volleyball Championship at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion. The Nittany Lions closed the season at 22-8 overall, while the Anteaters improved to 19-8 and advanced to play top-seeded UCLA in the Regional Final.
The match also marked the end of the illustrious career of head coach Mark Pavlik, who led Penn State for 32 seasons. He finished third in the history of collegiate men’s volleyball with 716 career wins. His Penn State teams played in 26 NCAA Tournaments, advanced to the National Semifinal 21 times, and won the 2008 National Championship. Pavlik won one National Coach of the Year honor and was an 11-time EIVA Coach of the Year.
Sean Harvey paced Penn State with 18 kills, while Tristan Hassell joined him in double-digits with 14 kills in addition to his two aces. Gaige Gabriel and Owen Rose added seven kills apiece. The team had nine aces, led by Bennett Wilson with four. Wilson also led the team with his eight digs.
Rose was playing in the final match of his collegiate career. The NCAA leader in blocks per set added four more against the Anteaters. Ryan Merk also finished his career with the Nittany Lions as he tallied seven digs. Jaxon Herr, who transferred to Happy Valley for his final season, totaled 46 assists in his last match.
William D’Arcy led a group of four UC Irvine players in double digits with 13 kills on .423 hitting. All four of those players also totaled five blocks.
Set 1
UC Irvine hit .500 on its way to a 25-18 win in the first set. The team effort overcame Gabriel’s four kills on four swings for Penn State. The Anteaters never trailed in the set and led by as much as eight at 23-15 and again at 24-16. Set point was scored on a Penn State service error.
Set 2
Harvey’s seven kills helped Penn State outlast UC Irvine 29-27 in the second set. The Nittany Lions led big early at 12-7 following a kill by Harvey, but the Anteaters scored eight of the next nine points to take a 15-13 lead. Penn State tied the score multiple times but didn’t retake the lead until it scored back-to-back points on a kill by Harvey and a block by Hassell and Rose to go up 27-26. The Anteaters stopped the first chance at set point, but the Nittany Lions followed with a kill by Hassell and an ace by Rose to take the set.
Set 3
Harvey added five more kills and Hassell had four to lead Penn State to a 25-19 win in the third set. Wilson fueled a 4-0 run that put the Nittany Lions up 12-10, scoring three straight points on his own with a kill and back-to-back aces. Wilson later added another ace as part of a 5-0 run that put Penn State up 23-17. Set point was later scored on a kill by Hassell.
Set 4
UC Irvine hit .450 as it rolled to a 25-17 win in set four. D’Arcy and Andrej Jokanovic contributed four kills apiece.
Set 5
Penn State started hot, jumping out to a 6-3 lead following a kill by Harvey. Following a lengthy delay for the cleanup of blood caused by that point by Harvey, UC Irvine came out firing with a 3-0 run to tie the score at 6-6. Penn State got back on track with the next two points, including a block by Hassell and Rose that made it 8-6 as the teams switched sides. The Nittany Lions still held the lead at 9-8 with a kill by Hassell but that was the last time they would lead in the set. After getting down 10-9, they managed to tie the score four times, including at 13-13 with a kill by Hassell, but couldn’t get the go-ahead point. The Anteaters closed the match with back-to-back points, scoring on a kill by Trevor Clark and a kill by Micah Goss.
Career Highs
Bennett Wilson – aces (4)