This wasn't how the No. 4 Penn State men's volleyball team envisioned opening its season.
Penn State flew home from the Outrigger Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Sunday still looking for its first win of the season. The team fell to No. 1 Hawaii (30-19, 25-30, 30-23, 30-23), No. 7 Ball State (25-30, 30-25, 30-24, 30-20) and Shanghai Orient (30-28, 30-24, 30-18) in its first three matches of the year. Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said that the team played extremely well at times, but its inconsistency prevented the Nittany Lions from earning a win.
"This early in the season, I don't know that we are willing or able to sustain the concentration needed for long stretches of time," Pavlik said
In its first match of the season, Penn State battled Hawaii, the team that knocked the Lions out of the final four last year. Senior middle hitter Zach Slenker said that Penn State played better than it has in the past in this tournament during the team's four games against Hawaii.
Opposite hitter Zeljko Koljesar led the team with 18 kills, as the team notched a .239 hitting percentage, compared to Hawaii's .331. Hawaii was led by its three-time All American outside hitter, Costas Theocharidis, who amassed 24 kills in Friday's match at the Stan Sheriff Center. Pavlik said that the game beared little resemblance to last year's playoff meeting when both teams were playing at a much higher level.
Kolsejar also led the Lions against Ball State with 14 kills, despite the team's loss in four games. Ball State needed a total team effort to defeat the higher ranked Lions, as four different Ball State players notched double-digit kills, including Josh Zudeima, who was named to the All-Tournament team.
"Against Ball State, it seemed like nothing we tried worked," Pavlik said.
Slenker agreed, describing the match as a "meltdown." Slenker said that all members of the Penn State team seemed to struggle at the same time, while Ball State raised its level of play.
In Shanghai Orient, Penn State faced a team that started five national team members, including 6-foot-8 Tang Miao, who had 20 kills in Shanghai Orient's victory. Pavlik tried to get all of his young players in the games against Shanghai Orient, an experienced team that practices six to eight hours a day, six times a week. Shanghai Orient swept Hawaii in the tournament's championship game (30-27, 30-19, 30-27).
No Lions were named to the All-Tournament team, but Slenker said that the team is not discouraged and is capable of beating teams like Ball State and Hawaii in the future.
"We definitely have an idea of where we are and where we need to be going," Slenker said.
