David was fortunate to have sling and stone to bring down Goliath centuries ago.

Last night, armed with only a volleyball, David of Juniata found out the hard way that Goliath of Penn State had far more experience in volleyball warfare than in stone slinging.

Despite a surprising loss in the first game, the No. 3 Penn State men's volleyball team asserted itself once again as the Goliath of collegiate volleyball on the East Coast with an imposing 3-1 (24-30, 30-14, 30-24, 30-24) victory against Div. III No. 1 Juniata (12-7, 6-4 EIVA).

The Nittany Lions remain a perfect 9-0 in EIVA play and improved to 23-3 overall.

"It was the classic Penn State-Juniata match, in their small gym with the big crowd right on top of you," Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik said.

"Juniata circles this match on their schedule, and when we show up on their home court, they are always prepared for us and handle the pressure well."

In game one, the Eagles more then handled the pressure; they set the tone.

With hopes of being the "giant killer," Juniata came out on fire, hitting .615 with just three errors, according to Pavlik.

"The emotion wore off and the guys calmed down in the second game. We regained our rhythm, then [opposite hitter] Matt [Proper] hit eight straight serves in a row and we were in good shape from then on," Pavlik said.

Those eight consecutive points coming off of Proper's serves put the Lions up, 17-4, and they didn't look back from there. Proper finished with a team-high 21 kills, one shy of his career high.

The Lions used their blocking dominance to their advantage, as they have done all season long.

However, the Lions did not block a single ball in the first game and lost, then recorded 15 stuffs in the final three games and sent David of Juniata away with a loss.

Junior Nate Meerstein led the way with eight blocks.

This time around, Goliath stuck with his formula for success.

"You don't ever want to open the door for Juniata, don't give them any chances. They gave us the matchup we expected," Pavlik said.