Buck season
Spikers begin wild stretch tonight with No. 5 Ohio State

By JOSH DAECHE
Collegian Staff Writer

The Penn State men's volleyball team will get no breather.

Days after knocking off four of Canada's top teams, the Nittany Lions will begin a stretch of games against some of the nation's top teams when they battle Ohio State at 7:30 tonight in Rec Hall.

The Buckeyes are ranked fifth in Volleyball Magazine and have five of their six starters returning from last season.

Ohio State is led by first-team All-American setter Angel Aja and second-team All-American middle hitter Rene Esteves.

Aja will run the offense for the Buckeyes after averaging 18.42 assists per game last season. The Buckeyes are stacked in the middle with juniors Colin McMillan and Esteves leading the way.

Last season this lethal combo led the team with 277 blocks between them. They also hold the Ohio State record with the best-combined overall hitting percentage in school history.

After finishing last season with a four-game loss in the NCAA semifinals to Loyola, the Buckeyes have their eyes on a higher finish.

They were 25-2 last season and with Volleyball Magazine's Coach of the Year Pete Hanson returning to the sideline, the Buckeyes are primed for success.

As for the Lions, success already is under their belts.

They are coming off a big weekend sparked by a sweep of the Nittany Lion Invitational in which they went 4-0 against some of Canada's top schools.

In the tournament Penn State saw strong play from middle blocker Sergio Pampena and setter Dan Pollock. Pampena had 29 kills in the two matches in which he saw action.

Pollock added 56 assists in Saturday night's match against Sherbrooke College. Penn State also saw strong bench play from middle blockers Josh Briggs and Adam Whitescarver.

Penn State coach Mark Pavlik has a lot of faith in his middle with Pampena and senior Tony Mazzullo leading the way.

"Our middle is just as good (as Ohio State's)," said Pavlik. "We are going to make them try to stop us."

An area in which Penn State may have to improve is its serving game. The team at times went into service slumps this past weekend, and poor serving left the Lions a lot of work on their side-out defense.

"We need to go back there, take our time and get the job done," Briggs said.

Over the next 10 days the Lions will face some of the stiffest competition of the year, including Ohio State, Pepperdine, Lewis, Hawaii and UCLA.

Noting that the upcoming week and a half could make or break his team's season, Pavlik confidently said, "I think we're ready."