Their goal this season was to get a two or three seed so that they didn't have to play the best team in the land. To achieve this, the Lions will have to win the rest of their matches against teams from the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. They will get that chance beginning with Ball State at home on Mar. 20.
"[Seeding] all depends on who win their conference," Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said. "Our team should not be worrying about that right now. We need to concentrate on getting better as a team. If we improve, I don't care if we are a one, two, three, or four seed in the tournament."
This is a bad loss for the Lions, period. First, senior outside hitter Keith Kowal sprained his ankle in the first game and, for the first time this season, the Lions had to play most of a match without their leading offensive player. Penn State failed the test and got outplayed down the stretch in the first two games. A 6-0 run at the end of game two took the score from 18-18 to 25-18 in favor of the Buckeyes. According to Pavlik, the team was down after the lost of Kowal and never recovered.
"We hung in there and hung in there," Pavlik said, referring to the games after Kowal went down. "I was really disappointed in how our offense played. We had our chances to win, but we didn't take advantage."
Penn State failed again to beat a MIVA team on the road. The Lions have already lost to unranked Loyola and No. 8 Ball State; now Ohio State will be added to that list. The Lions were out-hit and out-blocked, .295 to .168 and 11 to 10.5, respectively.
"Great teams not only play great, but they play great when they have to," Pavlik said. "We got knocked out of the ballpark tonight."
One upside is that senior libero Ricky Mattei added to his dig numbers with eight. Mattei is now within 25 of the all-time Penn State career record of 820. He should break the mark during the upcoming homestand beginning on Mar. 19 vs. Sacred Heart.
Kowal's status is unknown for the next game.
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