Conference News
Penn State Wins 12th Straight EIVA Tournament, Advances to NCAAs
Penn State Wins 12th Straight EIVA
Tournament, Advances to NCAAs
Reporter: Tom Kinslow
Special to the EIVA
Heading into Saturday’s EIVA Tournament final, Penn State
coach Mark Pavlik expected a major fight out of the Princeton
Tigers.
Once the two teams took the court, he got one.
Princeton came out swinging and hit the Nittany Lions with
everything they had, but it wasn’t enough as Penn State won
3-0 (30-28, 30-27, 30-13) and captured the EIVA
Championship.
The Tigers led for most of the first set, holding the advantage at
22-21 at one point. Penn State managed to fight back and the two
teams were locked at 26 before the Lions took the set.
As Princeton inched closer toward taking the set, the Tigers tried
their best to manage their emotions.
“I thought it was definitely very exciting,” outside
hitter Vincent Tuminelli said. “But I consciously tried not
to get too excited because I knew Penn State would come back and
give it all they had. They weren’t going to just lay down for
us.”
As the Lions dealt with the Tigers’ attack, they also had to
manage what they called an “abundance of
energy.”
Penn State believes it wasn’t necessarily bad energy, but led
to what middle hitter Max Lipsitz said were non-traditional
mistakes.
The Lions committed seven attack errors and five hitting errors in
the set but still managed to hit at a .353 clip.
But eventually, Penn State settled into the flow of the match and
that’s when its talent took over.
Outside hitter Joe Sunder led the charge, tallying 12 kills while
hitting .381 for the match and was named the tournament’s
Most Outstanding Player.
“Joe played like a big boy,” setter Edgardo Goas said.
“He’s been practicing pretty well these past two weeks
and, like I said, he’s one of the most physical players in
the nation and when he touches the ball, he’s a pretty
difficult hitter to stop.”
But despite the Lions finding a groove, they were still met with
heavy resistance from the Princeton block.
The Tigers finished with 10.0 blocks, tallying six and three in the
first two sets respectively. Princeton’s defensive scheme
made Goas work hard for every point and change his game
plan.
“They had a good scouting report,” Goas said.
“They were in the right spot at the right time. I usually
start the game out trying to set all the hitters to see if they get
hot early but they did a really good job of reading my sets I guess
and just being across the net and making some good
blocks.”
However, as the match wore on Goas said he was able to find the
holes in the blocking scheme, using Lipsitz, the EIVA Player of the
Year, as a decoy, freeing up Sunder on the outside and forcing the
Tigers to guess more than they had earlier in the match.
With the win, Penn State advances to its 12th
consecutive appearance in the NCAA Semifinals. For Goas and Sunder,
both redshirt sophomores, it will be their second appearance of
their careers.
The first trip ended in a 3-1 loss to eventual national runner-up
USC, but with a year under their belts, the two feel more prepared
headed into the semifinal this year.
Having gone through that experience, the duo are ready to pass on
their wisdom to people like freshman middle hitter Nick Turko, who
will make the trip for the first time.
“I’m excited for them,” Sunder said. “Last
year was the most fun I’ve ever had playing a sport in that
semifinal, even though we didn’t have the outcome we wanted
it was a great experience so I’m pretty excited for
them.”
EIVA Playoff All-Tournament Team
A.J. Nally, Springfield
Lance Rogers, George Mason
Vincent Tuminelli, Princeton
Michael Dye, Princeton
Edgardo Goas, Penn State
Max Lipsitz, Penn State
EIVA Tournament Most Outstanding Player
Joe Sunder, Penn State
