Flat-Lions

Sluggish Spikers fortunate to split weekend pair

"Flat," "sluggish" and "weak" -- not necessarily words found in the heart of a champion.

Penn State men's volleyball players used such adjectives after Friday's fortunate 3-1 win against Princeton and Saturday's difficult 1-3 loss to Ohio State.

In Saturday night's match against No. 7 Ohio State, the Nittany Lions' miscommunication and errors cost them an essential match. Sparked by a capacity crowd in Rec Hall's south gym, Penn State won the first game 15-7. But in the last three games, the Buckeyes' brick-wall defense frustrated the Lions.

The young Buckeye team defeated the Lions in four games (15-7, 9-15, 7-15, 10-15) on Alumni Weekend, at Penn State, for the first time in about 13 years.

"It's been a long time since Ohio State had beat Penn State at home," said Ohio State outside hitter Phil Kerewich. "It is a spark of a new era. We're a young team and we are going to be around for a while."

The Buckeye defense seemed to deflect every kill attempted by Penn State in the last three games. With a dive, slide or classic dig, Ohio State denied the Lions' every effort at scoring. Not even the supportive alumni in the stands were able to spark the heartbeat of the home team.

"(Ohio State is) playing with a confidence we don't have right now," Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said. "They've won some tight close matches and I think that pays off."

Unranked Princeton was supposed to be an easy victory. But Friday night, after a weak warm-up, the Lions lost the first game 12-15. Penn State committed eight errors in that first game, giving the Tigers eight crucial points for their victory.

"We just weren't crisp," said Lion setter Dan Pollock. "We didn't get a very good warm-up. We weren't really mentally ready to play. We just came out flat. We hung with them, but we just weren't playing our best volleyball."

Middle blocker Brad Miller kick-started the Lion attack, however, enabling Penn State to win the next three games for the match (15-12, 15-8, 15-11).

Miller totaled 31 kills against Princeton, his high for the 1998 season. Penn State's obvious height advantage and Miller's outstanding performance were critical keys in the agonizing victory.

Despite Penn State's apparent lack of heart, Miller was able to find a little life within himself to carry the Lions. The power and energy behind Miller's kills stung the Tigers' defense.

"We knew we had the advantage in the middle," Pavlik said. "Brad is the best middle attacker in the East. No question. Nobody is close to him. He has so much range and is able to do so many things."

Miller and Penn State have handled easier EVIA teams such as Princeton and Juniata. But when the Lions face tougher, out of conference opponents, games become uncomfortably close.

Lately, those tight matches have resulted only in losses for the Lions. Penn State's record this season against nationally ranked opponents dropped to 0-7, a painful statistic for the Lions.

"We were very flat again," Miller said. "We have to get a lot better if we're gonna do what we want to do this year."