With the end of the men's volleyball season approaching, the EIVA has announced all-conference selections and awards.

Not surprisingly, No. 3 Penn State is well represented with five first-team selections, a pair of second-team picks, player of the year and coach of the year.

It seems like the only things missing are a partridge and a pear tree.

Junior opposite hitter Matt Proper was named the Uvaldo Acosta EIVA Player of the Year. Proper is having a breakout season, leading the team with 3.94 kills per game and five points per set.

He is blocking at a rate of 1.28 stuffs per game, which places him third on a team of impressive blockers.

"[The committee] felt that if you take Matt out of our lineup, then all of a sudden you can do things against the other two guys in the front row more effectively," Nittany Lions head coach Mark Pavlik said.

"Matt was powerful enough this year with his serving and his defense and his block, that they felt he was the guy to go with."

Teammate Keith Kowal won the award last year, and, along with co-captain Nate Meerstein, was a top candidate for player of the year honors this season as well.

Kowal leads the nation with 1.73 blocks per game, while fellow middle hitter Meerstein is second in the country with a 0.522 hitting percentage, trailing only Pepperdine's Sean Rooney by just the slightest of margins, 0.002.

"I'm pleased for Matt, but I think you could flip a coin and it could have been Keith, it could have been Meers or it could have been Matt," said Pavlik, who won EIVA Coach of the Year.

Lions on the EIVA first team included Proper (second time), Kowal (third time), Meerstein (second time), setter Dan O'Dell (second time) and freshman libero Gary Vogel.

Outside hitters Aaron Smith -- whom Pavlik has referred to as the most underrated Lion -- and Alex Gutor made the second team.

The final countdown

Should the Lions win the EIVA championship, they will leave early next week for the NCAA tournament in Los Angeles, when most other Penn State students are taking finals.

"They can arrange to take [finals] before we leave, or they can take them in L.A. or they can take a deferred grade and come back to take care of them this summer," Pavlik said of his players' options.

As veterans of the NCAA tournament and this finals scenario, Kowal and O'Dell agreed that it is easier to take the tests before the team leaves.

Many times, however, instructors don't like issuing the exams early.

"Some professors don't like people taking their finals early, so we have to take them on the road," said one Lion who took two exams in Hawaii last season.

By the numbers

8 -- Pairs of Nike sneakers given to team members during the season, as estimated by a few Penn State vets.

2,871 -- Attendance at Rec Hall for Penn State's match with USC on February 12, the largest crowd in the NCAA this season for any match not hosted by Hawaii or Brigham Young, teams that typically draw over 3,000 per contest.

4 -- Matches for which the 2004 Penn State women's team drew more than 2,871 to Rec Hall, including a draw of 5,567 for a Nov. 20 match against unranked Illinois.