Huntingdon, Pa., March 30, 2005 - The third-ranked Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team defeated Juniata in four games Wednesday night (24-30, 30-14, 30-25, 30-24) to improve to 23-3 and 9-0 in the EIVA Tait. The Eagles fall to 13-7 and 7-4 in conference action.

Junior Matt Proper (Guys Mills, Pa.) led the squad with 21 kills, one shy of his career high, while junior Nate Meerstein (Pittsburgh, Pa.) posted 17 kills on .625 hitting. Sophomore Aaron Smith (Richmond, Va.) tallied eight kills and senior middle hitter Keith Kowal (Reading, Pa.) notched six. As a team, Penn State hit .319 to Juniata¡¯s .176.

Junior setter Dan O¡¯Dell (Rochester, N.Y.) dished out 47 assists while freshman libero Gary Vogel (Lancaster, Pa.) posted a team-high 11 digs and Proper chipped in eight.

The Nittany Lions recorded 15 blocks as a team, led by Meerstein with eight, Smith with six and Proper with five.

Penn State returns home for a 7:00 p.m. match up with George Mason on Friday, April 1 at Rec Hall.

For more information on the Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.