STATE COLLEGE, Pa., April 6, 2002 The fifth-ranked Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team clinched its 14th conference title with their three-game (30-20, 30-27, 30-28) victory over Concordia Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions improve to 20-3, 12-0 in EIVA Tait division play while Concordia falls to 9-14 overall, 6-7 in the conference. Penn State will now host the EIVA tournament to be held in Rec Hall on April 25 & 27.

Junior Carlos Guerra (Tamaulipus, Mexico) led Penn State with 17 kills while junior middle Zach Slenker (Dallastown, Pa.) recorded 12 kills on 19 attempts to hit .474 for the afternoon. Also for Penn State, senior Jason Hawkins (Lake Mary, Fla.) notched 11 kills while hitting .588 and junior Zeljko Koljesar (Kitchener, Ontario) tallied 10 kills.

The Lions dominated the offensive game, outhitting the Clippers .339 to .093 while also recording almost twice as many kills (60-32).

Defensively, Penn State outblocked Concordia, 13-11.5. Sophomore Norm Keil (St. James, N.Y.) and Koljesar combined for 14 individual blocks for the Lions. Keil tallied eight blocks on the afternoon, including six in the first game, while Koljesar notched six.

Penn State also won the digging war, 31-22. Koljesar led the team with seven while sophomore libero Ricky Mattei (San Juan, Puerto Rico) notched six and Slenker tallied five.

Senior Jose Quinones (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) directed the Penn State offense with 45 assists, also hitting 1.000 on four-of-four attacking.

Before the match, Penn State honored and thanked their seniors, Jose Quinones, Jason Hawkins and managers Seth Rappaport and Josh Brown for their outstanding contributions to the Penn State men¡¯s volleyball program.

The Lions take to the road for their next meet, traveling to George Mason to take on the Patriots on Friday, April 12 beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Please visit the men's volleyball homepage on www.GoPSUsports.com for complete match statistics.