The entire NYU bench sat quietly with wide-eyed stares and watched the No. 12 Penn State men's volleyball team warm up. It was about 20 minutes before the Violets were set to take on the Nittany Lions (2-4, 2-0 EIVA) in the South Gym of Rec Hall, and it appeared as if they knew what they were about to run into.

What the Violets (2-2, 0-1) did run into was a Penn State team that had dropped four consecutive matches for the first time since 2000. The Lions refused to extend that streak to five and dismantled NYU Friday, 3-0 (30-23, 30-18, 30-19).

"This was a match we need a little bit," Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said. "Just to get back on the winning track. Obviously it was one where we enjoyed some physical mismatches, and I think we took advantage of that."

Senior co-captain Matt Proper jumped out early and was seemingly everywhere, digging three balls and blocking three, and hit well, notching seven kills while hitting .400. Proper scored a team-high 11 points, but, like many of Penn State's starters, was mercifully pulled after the first two games.

Proper was able to knife kills through the NYU defense at times, while simply powering uncontrollable balls directly at defenders other times. He was also effective serving, with two aces, one of which was a pinpoint shot to the back corner, forcing the line judge to scoot out of its path.

Proper even took flight, leaping a set of chairs after keeping an errant ball in play.

He was supported by senior outside hitter Kevin Wentzel, who hit a team-high .583 on eight kills in two games of work. Freshman outside hitter Matt Anderson also had eight kills. Wentzel made his way into the starting lineup with a solid week of practice and made his opportunity count.

"When I get the opportunity, I'm trying to make the best of it," Wentzel said.

"I'm trying to go in there and stay as focused as I can and just not make mistakes and not hurt the team because that's who I'm thinking about the whole time."

NYU hit an almost unbelievable .000 for the match, with 26 kills and 26 errors, while the Lions hit at a .370 clip.

Ironically, the Lions hit best in Game 3 -- a .440 percentage -- which was after the starters had been taken out. Game 3 was the Violets' worst hitting game of the match, as they finished in the red at -.136 after committing nine errors and converting only six kills.