Penn State Men’s Volleyball Weekend Preview: Feb. 3-4
After suffering its first loss last week, Penn State remains at Rec Hall for the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge.
The blue and white host No. 10 USC on Friday before taking on No. 2 UCLA on Saturday, a challenge which will also see the No. 13 Ohio State Buckeyes face both Pac-12 teams.
This follows the Nittany Lions first loss of the season against No. 3 Long Beach State, falling narrowly in four sets.
Penn State came out on top in the first set before losing the next three despite putting up 23 points or more in each.
John Kerr was tied for the match lead with 17 kills and Cole Bogner finished with 43 assists and four blocks.
Kerr now enters the weekend leading the Nittany Lions with an impressive 91 kills after finishing with 12 kills in each of the past two seasons.
With the loss, the Nittany Lions are now 3-1 against ranked opponents this season, but have two chances to improve that record this weekend in the upcoming challenge.
Starting out with the Trojans, they enter the weekend with a 6-2 record on the season with a 1-2 record against ranked opponents.
The Trojans were victors last week against Cal State Northridge which was their second consecutive victory.
In a four set win, freshman Dillon Klein finished with a match-leading 16 kills which was his sixth consecutive double-digit kill game.
Klein leads the Trojans with 108 kills while also accounting for 122 points and 16 blocks.
Following that match, the Nittany Lions face their highest ranked opponent of the season in the UCLA Bruins.
The Bruins enter the challenge with an impressive 8-0 record having only lost one set this season which came on Jan. 13 against another EIVA team in Princeton.
Having now won 15 consecutive sets, the Bruins extended that streak most recently against George Mason last week.
That performance was highlighted by a match-leading 10-kill night from freshman Zach Rama, who had only played in one other set this season.
Four different Bruins have 40 kills or more this season being led by junior Ethan Champlin with 48.
When the Nittany Lions faced both these teams in the challenge last season, the Trojans and the Bruins came out on top in four sets. Those accounted for two of Penn State’s four losses on the season in a year where it failed to make the NCAA Tournament.
Both USC and UCLA finished with 22-win seasons, but it was the Bruins who made the tournament, making it all the way to the NCAA Semifinals before falling to Long Beach State in a close five-set loss.
This challenge will be the only time the Nittany Lions face USC this season, but they play UCLA once again on March 9 in the Outrigger Challenge in Hawaii
Logan Bourandas is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.
