? Match Notes
? EIVA Championship Central
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., April 25, 2007 ¨C The seventh-ranked and top-seeded Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team (20-7) begins play in the EIVA Championship with a semifinal contest versus fourth-seed Princeton (12-9) on Thursday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. The other semifinal match, slated for 4:30 p.m., features second-seed Saint Francis and third-seed George Mason. Semifinal winners will square off on Saturday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. for a berth in the National Collegiate Semifinal, hosted by Ohio State on Thursday, May 3.
Gametracker for all matches can be found at www.GoPSUsports.com.
Tickets for the EIVA Championship are $5 for adults, $3 for youth and $2 per person for groups of 10 or more. Penn State students are free with their university ID. Tickets will be available at the Rec Hall ticket office beginning at 3:30 p.m. on April 26 and 6:30 p.m. on April 28.
Previewing Penn State
The Nittany Lions enter the EIVA Championship Semifinal with a 20-7 record and the top seed in the conference after claiming the regular-season title with a perfect 12-0 record. Sophomore opposite Matt Anderson (West Seneca, N.Y.) and senior outside hitter Alex Gutor (Kiev, Ukraine) lead the Lion offense with 4.37 and 4.06 kills per game as sophomore middle hitter Max Holt (Cincinnati, Ohio) chips in 2.64 kpg and freshman middle hitter Max Lipsitz (Williamsville, N.Y.) adds in 2.24 kpg. Junior setter Luke Murray (East Petersburg, Pa.) directs the Nittany Lion offense with 12.54 assists per game as senior libero Ryan Walthall (Irvine, Calif.) provides 2.29 digs per game to lead the squad. Holt and Lipsitz head the blocking chart with 1.19 and 1.02 blocks per game, respectively. As a team, Penn State is hitting .332 with 15.22 kills per game, 1.79 service aces per game, 8.61 digs per game and 2.71 blocks per game.
The Series: Penn State vs. Princeton
Penn State leads Princeton, 33-2, in a series that began in 1977. The two previous meetings this year were both Nittany Lion sweeps, with the first coming on Feb. 23 (30-17, 30-23, 30-22) in Princeton, N.J., and the second coming on March 30 (30-25, 30-24, 30-25) at Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions And The EIVA Championship
Under head coach Mark Pavlik, Penn State has earned the right to host the EIVA Championship nine times since 1995, including the last eight years. The Nittany Lions hold an overall record of 33-1 in those 12 years, with the lone blemish a three-game loss to Princeton (7-15, 13-15, 14-16) on April 16, 1998. Since 1986, Penn State holds a 51-3 overall record in the EIVA Championship, never having lost a match at home.
For more information on the Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.
