Penn State continues success against men's volleyball

Princeton versus Penn State. It had all the makings of a classic. For seniors Scott Dore, Joel Moxley, Gary Chern, and Andrew Hutchinson it was quite possibly the last game they would ever play at Dillon Gym.

This year's senior class wanted to go out on top, but in its way stood the Nittany Lions. Fifth-ranked Penn State had made it a habit of shredding opponents in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association's (EIVA) Tait division.

Penn State needed just one more win to finish the EIVA conference season a perfect 14-0. Though the Tigers did not go quietly into the night, the Nittany Lions were simply too much for them in the end, winning in only three games (30-20, 30-17, 30-28).

The third game of the series was far and away the best of the afternoon. After dropping the first two games Princeton had its back against the wall, facing a Penn State team determined to make history.

Earlier in the third match the Nittany Lions jumped out to a 5-2 lead and it appeared as though they had picked up right where they left off in the previous games. But then something happened, and the Tigers began to rally as a packed Dillon Gym roared to life.

In a matter of minutes, Princeton had evened the score at eight each, and then took a one-point lead after a big block. From there the game went back and forth as the two teams traded kills until the Tigers again nudged ahead by a point, 17-16, after a kill by freshman outside hitter Blake Robinson.

Moments later the score was tied at 18 all and the Penn State players had looks of concern on their faces.

A timeout was called and Nittany Lion Coach Mark Pavlik could be overheard saying that he did not want any letdown. His message must have been clear because when the Penn State players returned to the court they proceeded to build a narrow 22-19 lead, one that they would not relinquish for the duration of the match.

However, Princeton kept things very close up until the end, even after falling behind, 27-22. The crowd began to cheer as the Tigers closed the deficit to 27-26 in the waning moments of the final game. The score was 29-28 in favor of the Nittany Lions when they hammered home the final kill.

Princeton came close to regaining the lead several times, but failed to pull ahead when it needed to the most.

The first two games did not go as well for the Tigers. In the first game Princeton trailed, 19-15, at about the halfway point, until Penn State's offense broke the game wide open with a couple of ferocious kills that drew oohs from Princeton and Nittany Lion fans alike. Penn State coasted to victory in the first game after pushing its lead to 27-19, much to the dismay of the Tiger faithful. The 30-20 defeat in game one was demoralizing for Princeton and its effects carried over into the next game.

The closest the Tigers got to the Nittany Lions in the second game was 12-10. From there on Penn State took control of the match, going on a 9-2 run. Princeton never fully recovered from this and fell even further behind, 28-15. The teams traded a couple points before the Nittany Lions closed out the game at 30-17.

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Although the second match did not go the Tigers' way, there were some amazing rallies. When the score was 17-10 Robinson made a diving save towards the stands only to have an opposing player smash it home for a point. That type of rally was indicative of how the second game unfolded.

Princeton would make several great saves only to have the Nittany Lions regroup and then score shortly thereafter. Throughout the afternoon it was apparent that at times the Tigers lacked a certain fire they usually carried into most of their big games.

"I felt we were more fired up in practice this week than in our game against the fifth-best team in the nation, which is something we'll have to work on," head coach Glenn Nelson said.

As disappointing as the loss against Penn State was for Princeton, the team staged a tremendous turnaround from last season.

"We've moved up a couple of spots in the league and, depending on what Concordia does this weekend, we'll be a three or four seed in the EIVA tournament, our best seed since 1998. There's also a chance we could host an EIVA game rather than having to travel in the first round of the tournament," Nelson said.