Springfield, Mass., Feb. 20, 2004 - The 12th-ranked Penn State men¡¯s volleyball defeated Springfield in four games (30-21, 31-33-, 30-25, 30-26) on Friday night in its first match of the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Mass. The Nittany Lions improve to 8-4 on the year and 4-0 in the EIVA Tait division while the Pride fall to 4-5 and 2-4 in league action.

Sophomore Matt Proper (Guys Mills, Pa.) led Penn State with 18 kills while sophomore Kevin Wentzel (Pittsburgh, Pa.) posted 17, junior Keith Kowal (Reading, Pa.) added 13 and sophomore Nate Meerstein (Pittsburgh, Pa.) chipped in 11. The Nittany Lions outhit Springfield, .426 to .270, for the match, including .519 to .238 in the fourth stanza.

Sophomore setter Dan O¡¯Dell (Rochester, N.Y.) directed the Penn State offense with 57 assists to go along with his three kills with senior libero Ricky Mattei (San Juan, Puerto Rico) topping the team defense with eight digs while O¡¯Dell and Wentzel added seven.

Meerstein fell one block shy of his second double-double of the season, posting nine blocks as the Nittany Lions controlled the net, outblocking the Pride, 18.5 to 9.5. Proper, Wentzel, O¡¯Dell and Kowal all added six blocks in the contest.

Springfield was led by Brandon Mueller with 25 kills while Clay Spiegel added 14. Robert Soris dished out 59 assists and led the defense with five digs. Ricky Albano topped the team blocking charts with five stuffs.

Penn State takes on UC-Irvine on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 8:00 p.m. in the championship match of the Hall of Fame Classic. The Anteaters (7-8) defeated Ohio State (7-5) prior to the Penn State-Springfield match, in four games (30-28, 27-30, 30-20, 30-24).

Please visit www.GoPSUsports.com for more information on the Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team.