Although almost a year has passed since the Penn State men's volleyball team last faced New York University, little has seemed to change.

Penn State swept NYU in three games (30-15, 30-21, 30-26) at Rec Hall on Friday night for its first win of the season in a match that resembled last year's meeting which Penn State won 30-20, 30-16, 30-20.

"We had a huge physical advantage in size and strength," Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said. "Our serve really separated us early."

Junior middle hitter Keith Kowal led Penn State with 10 kills, as Penn State (1-2) began its EIVA division play with a win after falling to No. 1 Hawaii and No. 6 Ball State last weekend.

The Lions found themselves down 2-4 in the match's opening game, but rebounded quickly behind strong serving runs from Kowal, senior captain Zach Slenker and opposite hitter Zeljko Koljesar.

The team hit .722 as both senior outside hitter Carlos Guerra and Koljesar tallied five kills.

Koljesar said that besides NYU not being as strong an opponent as either Ball State or Hawaii, the difference in Penn State's performance was better communication.

NYU, which is a different team from last year, having lost its all-time kills leader, Mitch Kallick, and its all-time assists leader, Dominic Griffin, was able to hang with the Lions in the match's second game.

Penn State found itself clinging to a 20-17 lead with Guerra preparing to serve.

Guerra's strong serving run was too much for NYU, which had to call timeout, and found itself down 26-18.

Penn State closed the game out 30-21 behind serving from freshman Matt Proper, who hit a perfect 1.000 for the match, notching six kills.

Proper and the team's other younger players saw increased action in the match's final game, as Pavlik said that he wanted to reward the players for working hard in practice.

The team's starting lineup in the final game featured freshman Dan O'Dell, redshirt junior Alex Weaver, juniors Rhonee Rojas and Richard Schneider, and redshirt freshmen Kevin Wentzel and Nate Meerstein.

"There are no gamers," Pavlik said. "At practice, you have to perform at a high level, and work to make the people around you better."

The more inexperienced lineup struggled early, and Penn State found itself tied at 21-21 late in the game. However, Pavlik stuck with the younger group, and the players responded, recording four service aces en route to a 30-26 victory.

While the team enjoyed playing in front of the home crowd, Kowal said that playing well on the road is more important, as Penn State hopes to return to the final four, which will be held in Long Beach, Calif. in May.

"We're pretty much a veteran team," Kowal said.

"As we get deeper into the season, we'll get more comfortable on the road."