UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State men’s volleyball placed three players on All-America Teams, as announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) on Wednesday. Sean Harvey led the way with his selection to the second team, while Ryan Merk and Owen Rose were voted as honorable mentions.
Harvey had a breakout season for Penn State, helping the Nittany Lions win EIVA regular season and tournament titles. The outside hitter was named the EIVA Player of the Year and followed that with EIVA Tournament MVP recognition. The redshirt sophomore finished as the conference leader in hitting percentage at .329, besting second place by 18 percentage points. He did so while averaging 3.59 kills/set while recording double-digit kills in 24 of the team’s 30 matches. He closed the season with double-digit kills in nine straight matches, including both matches in the EIVA Tournament and one in the NCAA Tournament.
Merk closed his collegiate career with All-America status in each of his four seasons in Happy Valley, earning second team recognition in 2024 and honorable mention the other three seasons. Merk is widely known as one of the best passers in the nation, posting 18 matches this season in which he didn’t allow an ace. He led the EIVA in digs/set with 2.11 while helping hold the competition to .218 hitting for the season.
Rose earned the third honorable mention All-America honor of his career, adding to the ones he received in 2023 and 2024. He will almost certainly finish the season as the national leader in blocks/set at 1.42, bolstered by 16 matches with five or more blocks. He broke Penn State’s all-time record for blocks in a match with 14 against Harvard, doing so in just three sets. That was one of just three matches in which he totaled double-digit blocks. The redshirt senior tallied 11 blocks in a five-set win at Sacred Heart and had 10 in a sweep over Charleston. He was also strong on the attack, hitting .391 with 1.29 kills/set, including 10 kills and no errors on 11 attacks in a sweep over Princeton to win the EIVA Tournament title.
Penn State finished the season at 22-8 overall. The Nittany Lions won the EIVA regular season title with a perfect 12-0 record before going on to win the EIVA Tournament crown for the fourth-consecutive season. They earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they pushed No. 6 UC Irvine to five sets in the quarterfinal round.