Another day, another win for spikers

By JOSH DAECHE
Collegian Staff Writer

After 12 days off, the Penn State men's volleyball team returned to action last night against St. Francis (Pa.) in Rec Hall.

The No. 11 Nittany Lions (11-10, 5-0 Tait) went into Wednesday's match against the Red Flash with a chance to show their strength in the EIVA. Penn State did just that by winning in three straight (15-2, 15-6, 15-8). The win extended the Lions' win streak to four matches.

Junior swing hitter Scott Lapp, who had 11 kills on 17 attempts, led the Lions. Lapp hit .471 for the match and started for an injured Eric Houston who was out with a groin injury.

Penn State coach Mark Pavlik was impressed with Lapp's performance.

"Scott played very well," Pavlik said. "He made some big plays and blocked the ball well."

In the first game, Penn State controlled the middle with strong play coming from middle blocker Sergio Pampena and swing hitter Tony Mazzullo. The duo combined for 10 kills and hit over .800.

In game two, Pavlik went to the bench and rested most of the Penn State starters. The opportunity allowed some reserve players like opposite hitter George Papadakis the show his skills. Papadakis had seven kills and seven digs in the two games he played. Defensively he forced the Red Flash to alter their shots every time he was close to the net.

Every Penn State player saw

action when middle blocker Josh Briggs entered game three.

In the third game, St. Francis captured its first lead of the match when it went ahead 8-7. However, Papadakis responded with a kill and middle blocker Dan Hoechst followed with a serve for a point off a St. Francis hitting error. The Lions never looked back.

"They made a couple lucky shots," Papadakis said.

As a team Penn State struggled, hitting a dismal .373 for the match.

However, every time the Lions went into a spell of bad hitting the Red Flash could not answer.

Overall, Pavlik was not impressed with his bench play.

"I thought they were up and down," Pavlik said. "They didn't look sharp tonight and it looks like we have been off for 12 days."

Penn State will play George Mason at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and Eastern Mennonite at 2 p.m. Saturday before returning home for a 2 p.m. match Sunday against Vassar in Rec Hall.