Penn State's senior libero Ricky Mattei has always been a team player, never worrying about individual statistics or honors.

Last night was one time in his career when no one would have frowned if he were a bit selfish.

But keeping with his personality, Mattei was more upset with the way he played than he was happy about the record.

"If you would ask Ricky he'd say he played a bad game tonight," Penn State's men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said. "But he always seems to find a way to control the other teams offense. The record is a testament to Ricky's skills."

Mattei broke the Penn State men's volleyball record for digs in a career. A record held by Ramon Hernandez, which had been in the books for 10 years.

He did it when he recorded his fifth dig of a five game win against Juniata (30-32, 30-32, 30-26, 30-25, 15-10).

The upstart Eagles, who had their won last nine matches and 11 of their last 13, played a much better game at home and gave the Lions fits. Juniata came close to sweeping Penn State.

A sweep would have been the Lions second straight loss away from the friendly confines of Rec Hall.

"We couldn't match their intensity tonight," Pavlik said.

"They had more energy then us. They played harder at the end of the final two games and took the games. I thought we handled them the rest of the way."

The Eagles played more comfortable at home, just as Pavlik had predicted, hitting .306 as a team throughout the five games.

Senior Josh Mallory came off the bench in game four and sparked the Lions in the final two games. He played his most important minutes of season.

Mallory is a backup who is used mainly for his accurate service. Middle hitter Nate Meerstein hit at an amazing .720 clip.

"This was a good win for us," Pavlik said.

"I know people will say we should of killed these guys, but they have some players that can play."

"The atmosphere and the energy level were amazing. This is the type of game that we need to play in. A game where the opponent raises the bar and we are there to meet it."

Junior outside hitter Keith Kowal continued his dominance with 20 kills and a .500 hitting percentage.

Continuing the play that garnered him the Sports Imports/AVCA national player of the week. It was the first national honor for Kowal and the first for Penn State this season.