Match Notes
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., April 3, 2006 - The 11th-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team (15-7) heads to Columbus, Ohio, to face No. 14 Ohio State (16-9) on Tuesday, April 4 at 7:00 p.m. The Nittany Lions will then return home to host Lewis in their last regular-season home contest on Saturday, April 8 at 7:00 p.m. The match will be televised live on WPSU-TV.
Previewing Penn State
The Nittany Lions come into the mid-week match with a 15-7 overall record after sweeping Princeton in three games to claim their 18th EIVA regular-season title and clinch home-court advantage throughout the conference playoffs.
Senior opposite Matt Proper leads the team with 4.12 kills per game as freshman outside hitter Matt Anderson and senior middle hitter Nate Meerstein chip in 2.75 and 2.65 kills per game, respectively. As a team, six players are averaging more than 2.00 kills per game.
Senior setter Dan O¡¯Dell has returned from knee surgery and leads the team with 10.12 assists per game as sophomore Luke Murray contributes 9.04 assists per game.
Junior libero Ryan Walthall set a new career-high last week with 17 digs against Rutgers-Newark and is averaging 2.17 digs per game to lead the team. Anderson chips in 1.34 digs per game to aid the squad.
Freshman middle hitter Max Holt tops the team with 1.32 blocks per game and Meerstein adds 1.16 blocks per game as both Anderson and Proper chip in 0.78 blocks per game.
As a team, Penn State is hitting .336 with 15.78 kills per game,1.38 service aces per game, 8.31 digs per game and 3.26 blocks per game.
The Series
Penn State leads Ohio State, 54-21, in a series that began in 1978. The Nittany Lions lead the season series, 2-1, with the Buckeyes edging the Nittany Lions in five games (22-30, 30-24, 30-27, 31-33, 17-15) on Jan. 20 in the last match of the Outrigger Invitational in Honolulu. Penn State then defeated Ohio State in four games (30-19, 25-30, 30-25, 30-27) on Feb. 10 at the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Mass., and again in four games (25-30, 30-25, 30-20, 30-24) at Rec Hall on March 22. The last meeting in Columbus was a four-game Penn State win (30-32, 30-25, 30-20, 30-21) on April 3, 2005.
