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April 29, 2010

Penn State Advances to EIVA Final on Saturday

Penn State Advances to EIVA Final on Saturday

Reporter: Tom Kinslow

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., April 29, 2010 – It’s been a long, strange year for the Penn State men’s volleyball team, but you wouldn’t know that looking at the team that showed up on Thursday night.

The No. 12 Nittany Lions dominated Springfield 3-0 (30-21, 30-21, 30-27) at Rec Hall in order to move on to the EIVA tournament final.

Penn State came into the match at 21-7 on the year, suffering embarrassing losses to Ohio State and Rutgers-Newark, but after almost two weeks off, the fresh legs powered the team to the final.

The Lions hit .453 in the match with four different players as setter Edgardo Goas spread the ball around the court, giving his hitters clear lanes to hit.

Goas’ performance was one coach Mark Pavlik believed was one of the setter’s most intelligent and strategic of the year.

From the onset of the match, Penn State’s hitters felt like they had good chemistry with Goas, something they linked to extra work put in at the practice gym.

“Eddie and I have been working on that stuff all this week and we hit some balls earlier today and we were getting back to our connection that we were struggling with and I feel like the outside hitters did a great job and the opposites,” outside hitter Ryan Wolf said. “We were connecting really well.”

While the Lions dominated the scoreboard with their balanced attack, it wasn’t because of a poor showing from the Pride.

For the match, Springfield hit .284 but managed to hit .385 and .348 in sets one and two. However, the difference was in Penn State’s ability to sideout.

In those sets, the Lions were able to sideout at 86 and 85 percent, squashing any chance the Pride had of putting together a rally.

“Sometimes that causes a team to say ‘Oh my, what more do we have to do,’ ” Pavlik said. “So hitters start to try to press a little bit more and I felt like as that match wore on, that’s where our ability to sideout for long stretches really came into play. They really started to push a little bit and they’d have some stretches of hitting errors.”

As Springfield began to press, they had to deal with Penn State’s outside hitter Joe Sunder.

Sunder led the Lions with 15 kills, hitting .789 while not committing a single hitting error. The redshirt sophomore seemed to benefit the most from Penn State’s time off as he leapt high into the air repeatedly before firing the ball through the Pride’s defense.

“Joe was just blasting balls from somewhere above 1300 feet,” Pavlik said. “He had to have some clearance from State College airport tonight. I thought he was jumping really well and I think that the one thing about our rest, recover, revive period, our guys are jumping really well right now.”

Despite the sweep, Springfield coach Charlie Sullivan couldn’t be happier about the way his season went.

The Pride entered the tournament after winning the Molten Division III Invitational National Championship. Springfield then defeated Saint Francis 3-1 in the quarterfinals before falling to Penn State.

That ride is something Sullivan will never forget.

“After some seasons as a coach, you just want to sell insurance but after a season like this, it’s been a great ride,” Sullivan said. “It’s been a great ride. I’m really proud of our guys. I’ve had one of the most satisfying coaching seasons of my career and we didn’t plan on it ending and it was certainly like a sledgehammer hitting us when it ended.”

The end of the Pride’s season also marked the end of the careers of Springfield’s six seniors including outside hitter A.J. Nally.

Nally had 12 kills on the night, hitting .259 in his final match and has no regrets looking back on his time at Springfield.

“It’s just been a great run,” Nally said. “It’s just been a great run. There’s nothing bad about what we’ve done this year. We’ve worked hard every single point of every single game. We’ve gotten better, we’ve improved as a team on and off the court and you can’t really say anything bad about the guys.”



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Conference News 2005-06 \| 2006-07 \| 2007-08 \| 2008-09 \| 2009-10 \| 2010-11 \| 2011-12 April 29, 2010 Penn State Advances to EIVA Final on Saturday Penn State Advances to EIVA Final on Saturday Reporter: Tom Kinslow UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., April 29, 2010 – It’s been a long, strange year for the Penn State men’s volleyball team, but you wouldn’t know that looking at the team that showed up on Thursday night. The No. 12 Nittany Lions dominated Springfield 3-0 (30-21, 30-21, 30-27) at Rec Hall in order to move on to the EIVA tournament final. Penn State came into the match at 21-7 on the year, suffering embarrassing losses to Ohio State and Rutgers-Newark, but after almost two weeks off, the fresh legs powered the team to the final. The Lions hit .453 in the match with four different players as setter Edgardo Goas spread the ball around the court, giving his hitters clear lanes to hit. Goas’ performance was one coach Mark Pavlik believed was one of the setter’s most intelligent and strategic of the year. From the onset of the match, Penn State’s hitters felt like they had good chemistry with Goas, something they linked to extra work put in at the practice gym. “Eddie and I have been working on that stuff all this week and we hit some balls earlier today and we were getting back to our connection that we were struggling with and I feel like the outside hitters did a great job and the opposites,” outside hitter Ryan Wolf said. “We were connecting really well.” While the Lions dominated the scoreboard with their balanced attack, it wasn’t because of a poor showing from the Pride. For the match, Springfield hit .284 but managed to hit .385 and .348 in sets one and two. However, the difference was in Penn State’s ability to sideout. In those sets, the Lions were able to sideout at 86 and 85 percent, squashing any chance the Pride had of putting together a rally. “Sometimes that causes a team to say ‘Oh my, what more do we have to do,’ ” Pavlik said. “So hitters start to try to press a little bit more and I felt like as that match wore on, that’s where our ability to sideout for long stretches really came into play. They really started to push a little bit and they’d have some stretches of hitting errors.” As Springfield began to press, they had to deal with Penn State’s outside hitter Joe Sunder. Sunder led the Lions with 15 kills, hitting .789 while not committing a single hitting error. The redshirt sophomore seemed to benefit the most from Penn State’s time off as he leapt high into the air repeatedly before firing the ball through the Pride’s defense. “Joe was just blasting balls from somewhere above 1300 feet,” Pavlik said. “He had to have some clearance from State College airport tonight. I thought he was jumping really well and I think that the one thing about our rest, recover, revive period, our guys are jumping really well right now.” Despite the sweep, Springfield coach Charlie Sullivan couldn’t be happier about the way his season went. The Pride entered the tournament after winning the Molten Division III Invitational National Championship. Springfield then defeated Saint Francis 3-1 in the quarterfinals before falling to Penn State. That ride is something Sullivan will never forget. “After some seasons as a coach, you just want to sell insurance but after a season like this, it’s been a great ride,” Sullivan said. “It’s been a great ride. I’m really proud of our guys. I’ve had one of the most satisfying coaching seasons of my career and we didn’t plan on it ending and it was certainly like a sledgehammer hitting us when it ended.” The end of the Pride’s season also marked the end of the careers of Springfield’s six seniors including outside hitter A.J. Nally. Nally had 12 kills on the night, hitting .259 in his final match and has no regrets looking back on his time at Springfield. “It’s just been a great run,” Nally said. “It’s just been a great run. There’s nothing bad about what we’ve done this year. We’ve worked hard every single point of every single game. We’ve gotten better, we’ve improved as a team on and off the court and you can’t really say anything bad about the guys.”