Leading Penn State's New York/New Jersey Domination Tour was All-American and senior co-captain Keith Kowal. Against Rutgers-Newark, Kowal had 11 kills and led the Lions with seven blocks.

After seeing only limited play against NYU Saturday night, Kowal single-handedly dismantled the Princeton Tigers on Sunday. Kowal led Penn State with 12 kills on 17 attempts and had an astounding 13 blocks, setting a career high and tying the Penn State all-time record set by Kevin Hourican on Feb. 25, 1995.

"Keith was a wall; he blocked everything that came over the net," Pavlik said.

Pavlik will be the first to tell you that blocking is the Lions' forte. Penn State has huge size advantages against EIVA opponents, with players on the starting front line between 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-9.

Not only are these players tall, they are aggressive and attack the ball at every opportunity. Take, for example, the opening point of the NYU match.

"It almost seems like we walked into their gym and that was it," Pavlik said.

"The very first swing NYU took, [junior opposite Matt] Proper stuffed it right back at them. I looked at [assistant coach] Dennis [Hohenshelt] and said, 'They are gonna have a complex from now on; anything they hit, we're going to block.' "

The Lions went on to outblock NYU 15-6 and forced the Violets into having more errors than kills for the match. The staunch defense continued with Princeton, who had eight blocks to Penn State's 17, and was limited to a .052 hitting percentage. The Lions recorded 14.5 team blocks to Rutgers-Newark's nine, but the Scarlet Raiders found success for one game, making only one error in the first game of the match.

"They made things tough on us in that first game, but we settled down and really applied the pressure from then on. We hit hard and the blockers took control, allowing the offense to regain its rhythm," Pavlik said.

Offensively, Penn State took control from behind the service line all weekend long.

The Lions racked up nine aces against Rutgers-Newark, four of which came from Proper, tying his career high.

The Lions slammed down seven aces to Princeton's one, as freshman setter Luke Murray and junior outside hitter Andrew Price each recorded two, which was a career high for Price.

"Our efficiency was superb. We were effective on both sides of the ball and capitalized on all the advantages presented to us," Pavlik said.