Monday, March 17, 1997

Spikers win AU tourney

Penn State cruised to three wins and captured the championship of American University's Volleyball Tournament last week in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

American won game one against Penn State on Thursday, 15-13, getting the vocal Puerto Rican crowd in the match. The Nittany Lions raced out 11-1 lead in game two and never looked back, taking the match in four games, 13-15, 15-6, 15-13 and 15-12.

Ivan Contreras
Named Most Valuable Player of tourney
(Courtesy of Penn State)

Junior swing hitter Tony Mazzullo had his best match as a Lion against American. He set career-highs with 16 kills and 11 blocks and added nine digs.

The No. 2 Lions (19-1) needed just three games on Friday to due away with Indiana-Purdue-Ft. Wayne, 15-6, 15-10 and 15-11. The Mastadons have not beaten Penn State since 1994 and fell to 11-5 on the season. Balance was a key for the Lions as they had three players in double figures in kills.

In the championship match, Naranjito, a club team made up of players 25 to 30 years old from Puerto Rico, followed the trend of Lion opponents. Penn State defeated the Puerto Rican contingent in three games, 15-5, 15-12 and 16-14.

Ivan Contreras led the Lions with 20 kills in the championship match. Contreras was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, the second time this season the senior has been a tournament MVP. Fellow senior Jason Kepner also was named to the all-tournament team.

-- by Nick Zulovich