Stanford drops spikers, gives them third preseason loss

No one would blame the Penn State men's volleyball team if it wanted to take it easy during the preseason.

Penn State lost to defending national champion Stanford Sunday at Rec Hall 3-1 for its third loss of the preseason.

The Lions chose the difficult preseason competition of Stanford as a measuring stick of where it stands against tough opponents.

"Stanford helped show us where we are at and where we need to be later on in the year in order to see improvement," said middle blocker Sergio Pampena.

In the first game, the Lions broke a 7-7 tie with the Cardinal and limited their opponent to only one more point as they streaked ahead for the 15-8 victory. The clearly shaken Cardinal successfully regrouped to win the following three games 8-15, 6-15 and 15-7.

"There is a lot of work to do at every position," setter Daniel Pollock said. "There needs to be more consistency from every position -- passing, setting, hitting, everything."

Suffering from miscommunication, the Lions had many instances where they were unable to locate their teammates.

"We need to improve on team chemistry and where everyone is at," Pampena said. "We need to start playing better as a team and then the individuals will get better."

Aside from the mistakes, there were some Lion hot spots in Rec Hall.

The combination of middle blockers Pampena and Brad Miller rejected numerous kills by Stanford's offense. The front line's unity impacted Penn State mostly, which stood out in Penn State's attempt at a late comeback in the fourth game.

Down 10-14, the Penn State defense held Stanford from scoring its game-winning point while the Lion offense then returned with a streak of five points to regain the lead. Yet Stanford put the game away with two easy points for the 17-15 victory.

"We competed and we had the heart to come back in the fourth (game) to tie it up," Pollock said. "We need that kind of attitude the whole year."

As far as preseason assessments go, the Lions showed that they should be a tough roadblock for any team to overcome.

"We are at a point where I hoped we were a little more consistent, but that will come," said coach Mark Pavlik.

With more than a month left Penn State has ample time to correct its mistakes and jell as a unit.