Spikers travel to East Stroudsburg, Pavlik looks for win No. 100

By JOSH DAECHE
Collegian Staff Writer

In search of its first winning streak of the season, the Penn State men's volleyball team will travel to East Stroudsburg tomorrow night with a little more to play for than just a win.

Coach Mark Pavlik has a chance to become the third Nittany Lion volleyball coach to win his 100th game at Penn State. The other two are Tom Tait and Tom Peterson.

The No. 14 Lions (3-8) have struggled all season against top-ranked opponents, losing all eight of their matches against them.

Last Saturday was no different when No. 7-ranked Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne came to University Park. The Mastadons were led by outside hitter Hector Soto, who had 37 kills in the win over the Lions.

Penn State struggled all night trying to get anything started. The Lions, though, did finish the weekend 2-1 with wins over Princeton and Juniata.

Penn State saw strong play from its bench during the weekend. Led by Adam Whitescarver, Penn State dismantled Princeton in three games Sunday while beating up on Juniata in four games last Friday.

Yet with all the positives the Lions can take out of last weekend's performance, there are still a lot of questions to be answered.

Penn State has had a hard time finishing off teams all season, and Friday was no different. The Lions were up 14-12 in game three against Juniata and were serving for match point but ended up losing the game, 16-14.

At one time this season Penn State was considered a threat on the East Coast; but that may have changed considering it is yet to beat a ranked opponent. The Lions will continue to search for answers against East Stroudsburg and then when they travel to Rutgers-Newark to play No. 10 Loyola (Chicago) and No. 8 Ohio State this weekend.

Around the court

No. 1 Lewis (6-1) hung onto the top spot in the USA Today coaches' poll by one vote. The Flyers beat Clarke last Monday night and play IPFW Saturday.

No. 2 BYU (10-0) continued to make its plea for the No. 1 ranking by defeating No. 12 Loyola Marymount Saturday in three games. The Cougars were led by All-Americans Ossie Antonetti and Ryan Millar. The two combined for 28 kills and shared a hitting percentage of over .500. BYU's next challenge is at Hawaii Feb. 19.

No. 3 Pepperdine (8-0) is off to its best start since 1982. The Wave smashed into UC Santa Barbara last Thursday winning in three games. Pepperdine was led by George Roumain, who had a match-high 22 kills, eight digs and three blocks. The Wave's next challenge is Saturday against No. 6 Long Beach State.

UCLA holds down the No. 4 spot. The Bruins are 6-2 after knocking off Cal State Northridge in three games last Friday and UC Irvine in four games Saturday.

UCLA was led by Adam Naeve (27 kills against UC Irvine) and Ed Ratledge (16 kills against Cal State Northridge).

No. 5 Hawaii (5-2) was idle last weekend. The Rainbows will not play until next weekend against BYU.

No. 6 Long Beach State (5-0) remained undefeated after knocking off Stanford last Friday in three games and Pacific Saturday in four. The 49ers play Pepperdine this Saturday.

No. 7 IPFW (6-0) moved up two spots from last week after beating Mercyhurst and Penn State last weekend. The Mastadons were led by Hector Soto, who had a combined 70 kills in the two matches. He was named AVCA Player of the Week for his effort. Next up for IPFW is Ball State next Monday.

No. 8 Ohio State (5-3) beat No. 10 Loyola last weekend in a two-hour, three-game match in which there were more than 150 kills hit between the teams. Phil Kerewich's 27 kills led the Buckeyes.

Next up for the Buckeyes are Rutgers-Newark and Penn State this weekend.

No. 9 USC and No. 10 Loyola (Chicago) round out the top 10.