Washed away
Waves roll over Spikers for sweep

By JOSH DAECHE
Collegian Staff Writer

Swept.

The Penn State men's volleyball team finished its three-games-in-three-different-cities tour against Pepperdine Saturday night.

And like the two matches before, the Lions came away without a victory.

After losing to Pepperdine Thursday, the Lions (0-4) dropped the first two games in Friday's match before winning the third. Penn State, however, could not keep the comeback alive in the fourth, losing to Pepperdine (15-8, 15-10, 12-15, 15-9) at Norristown High School.

Saturday night was more of the same, just a different venue. Pepperdine completed the three-match sweep of the Lions with a three-game (15-11, 15-11, 15-6) victory at Council Rock High School.

Despite following a season-opening sweep of four Canadian teams with four straight losses, Penn State does not seem worried about how it's playing.

"We've just got to start doing the little things and clean things up a little bit," said Lion opposite hitter Tim Hoffman.

The optimism may stem from the fact that Penn State's big guns are doing their jobs.

In Friday's match, senior middle blocker Brad Miller, who had team high 20 kills and six digs, again led the Lions. Swing hitter Tony Mazzullo led the team with 11 digs and middle blocker Sergio Pampena chipped in with six blocks.

Mazzullo has been Penn State's top performer of late.

"Tony is always consistent and has played really well," said Lion outside hitter Eric Houston.

Penn State coach Mark Pavlik allowed some of his youth rise to the forefront Friday night when freshman setter Jose Quinones saw a great deal of playing time. Quinones finished with 56 assists on the evening.

Hoffman also saw his first action of the season Friday, adding 11 kills and posting a .539 hitting percentage.

Optimism aside, the Lions must begin piecing things together, for their road does not get any easier. They travel to Hawaii tomorrow for the Hawaii Outrigger Invitational.

The tournament starts Wednesday night, with Penn State opening against last year's NCAA National Champions and Volleyball Magazine's preseason No. 1 UCLA. The Lions then play top-five teams Lewis and Hawaii Thursday.

"It's going to be good for us," Houston said. "It will help us get rid of our errors. The season is long and there is plenty time for improvement."