Lions win 3 in midwest

By BRIAN EPSTEIN
Collegian Sports Writer

After three matches in two days and only three-and-a-half hours of rest last Saturday night, the men's volleyball team returned from Romeoville, Ill., last Sunday afternoon both physically and emotionally exhausted.

But more important than aching muscles and heavy eyelids, the No. 7 Nittany Lions (7-2) returned home from the EIVA/MIVA Challenge with three wins and a six-match winning streak.

The Lions' dominance of Midwest teams (3-0 heading into the weekend) continued against the top teams in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association conference. First, the No. 7 Lions defeated host-Lewis in four games last Friday (15-11, 15-9, 15-17, 15-10) despite being outhit by the Flyers .385 to .368. Outside hitter Ed Josefoski led the Lions with a match-high 31 kills and four of the team's 13 service aces. Ivan Contreras totaled 18 kills and seven blocks and Jason Kepner chipped in 17 kills and seven digs.

Last Saturday afternoon, the Lions faced Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne for the second of three regular season meetings. And for the second straight time, the Lions emerged victorious.

Penn State took the first game 15-8 before its offense temporarily stalled, managing only three points in Game 2. But Volleydon senior opposite Craig Collins (21 kills, three hitting errors) withstanding, IPFW's offense was even more out of sync. In hitting a woeful .281 and committing eight ball-handling errors, the Volleydons allowed the Lions to take the final two games, 15-8, 15-9, for the victory.

But the best match of the weekend would come later that evening.

In what Lion Coach Mark Pavlik said was "the most exciting match of the season," the Lions outlasted No. 14 Ball State 15-6, 13-15, 15-13, 13-15, 15-8, despite a superb performance by Cardinal senior opposite Todd Reimer (35 kills in 71 attempts).

"It was a really fun team to play -- there was no trash talking," said Kepner (12 kills, 11 digs). "It was just a game where both teams played as hard as they could and, fortunately for us, we finished on top."

Contreras exploded for 35 kills (on 63 attempts) against the Cardinals while committing only six hitting errors and Josefoski finished with 31 kills and two service aces.

Pavlik continued to experiment at one of the outside hitting positions over the weekend by platooning redshirt sophomore David Gealey and redshirt junior Fred Matheis. Matheis saw extensive playing time over the weekend and he made the most of his opportunities, contributing 47 kills (including 22 against Ball State) in the three matches. Gealey, who has usually started, played in two games and totaled only six kills.

"In that (outside hitting) position, Freddie and David will be battling all season long," Pavlik said. "Right now Freddie's playing well but who knows what's going to happen in the long run."