The Penn State men's volleyball team overcame a heartbreaking first game loss and defeated Ohio State in four games (30-32, 30-23, 30-22, 30-24) at Rec Hall Saturday night.

The first game was back and forth and Ohio State (1-1) was able to hold the lead 15-13 at the midway point of the first game.

Under the new scoring system, in which the men play until 30 instead of 15, the Lions (1-0) still had a lot of volleyball to be played.

The Lions came out after the break and were able to open their biggest lead of the game 22-19.

The Buckeyes were able to knot the game again at 25 and the Lions and Buckeyes traded points until they reached 30 tied.

Then Ohio State outside hitter Tim Fash stepped up and ripped off back-to-back service aces to close the game at 32-30.

The Lions came out in the second set and set a totally different tone from the outset. Penn State opened up a 15-9 lead at the break and it never got closer than five.

The Buckeyes hit just .167 in the second game as compared to their .531 hitting percentage in the first game. Meanwhile Penn State was able to hit their highest percentage in the second game, which enabled them to win the game 30-23.

"The first game we had to fight through the opening night jitters," said coach Mark Pavlik. "We were serving and blocking tentatively, but once we started to rip serves our confidence level was able to climb."

Penn State came out rolling again in third set as they led 6-1 at one point, but the Buckeyes were able to cut the lead to 15-13 at the break. Penn State used a 5-0 spurt in the middle of the third game to extend the lead to 24-17. John Mills and Koljesar asserted themselves the entire third game as they both hit over .450 for the match, while pounding balls off of Buckeye blockers in the third set.

"Our problem is our slow starts and butterflies, but personally I woke myself up," said Zeljko Koljesar.

The fourth game Penn State kept Ohio State in the match with service errors. Ohio State was as close as 12-11, but Penn State was able to use a 6-0 run to break the fourth game open. Penn State ran away with the game 30-24.

"In that stretch we had some of the best blocking all night long," said Pavlik. "Ricky Mattei in the back row tracks everything down. Hitting .446, setters, passers and hitters all being ready to hit is why we were able to win the match."

Penn State out-hit Ohio State in the match .446 to .250. They also led the Buckeyes in total team blocks 11.5 to 8. Quinones had 62 assists while three hitters Zach Slenker, Mills, and Koljesar all reached double digits in kills.

"The one thing we've had here is great teams, but this team has more flavor and energy," said junior co-captain Jose Quinones. "We are united and have chemistry on the court which helps us win close games."