Spikers strong in preseason tune-ups

By JOSH DAECHE
Collegian Staff Writer

The Penn State men's volleyball team had a weekend filled with volleyball, volleyball and more volleyball. After playing three matches Friday in its third of three Blue-White games, the Nittany Lions welcomed five teams in a preseason tournament.

The Lions had a huge day Saturday, playing a total of 17 games in eight different matches. The tournament included teams from East Stroudsburg, Juniata, St. Francis (Pa.), Mercyhurst and New Jersey Institute of Technology.

The Lions finished 15-2 on the day, and if the preseason is any indication of what the Lions are going to look like, then they could be spoken in the same breath as west coast powerhouses UCLA, Pepperdine and Long Beach State.

Penn State showed its size, strength and awareness of the ball, and used a combination of the three to overpower every team Saturday.

The Lions opened up the day playing split-squad matches. On one court, half of Penn State played defending Div. III champions Juniata, while on the other court the rest of the Penn State squad took on St. Francis (Pa.).

The Lions lost the opening game to Juniata, but went on to win the next three. Meanwhile, St. Francis fell fairly easily to the Lions on the other court.

The key players were Brad Miller, Josh Briggs and Jason Hawkins. The three led the team past Juniata. The serves of Eric Houston and dominant performances of Sergio Pampena and Tim Hoffman soared Penn State past the Red Flash.

"Sergio is great," said Penn State setter Jose Quinones. "He always wants the ball."

Throughout the whole tournament, Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik used a variety of players in order to get different combinations of players used to playing with one another.

Throughout the day, coaches of all squads used different ways to keep score. Some games were played to 15, and in other games teams played rally matches to 25.

Pavlik was impressed with his team's performance throughout the whole tournament.

"We really played well today," said Pavlik. "There were no complaints."

Penn State finished its day by playing two matches against East Stroudsburg. The Warriors were undersized but played scrappy volleyball all day. Houston and Hoffman continued showing their powerful abilities to pound kills all day. One shot in particular that summed up.

Houston's performance came when he buried a shot that went off East Stroudsburg junior Bill Roth's face. Though Roth appeared stunned by the shot, he came right back and fired a blast of his own that ricocheted off the floor and hit Pavlik.

"We were in a groove today," Hoffman said. "I just went off."

The Lions won both matches over the Warriors 15-5 and 25-20 in a rally match.

In general, the Lions' chemistry appears to be starting to flow as they prepare for regular-season action beginning in January.