After the first game of the match Saturday night in Rec Hall's south gym, the No. 6 Penn State men's volleyball team looked to be in complete control of No. 11 IPFW and there was a sense that the match would be over in three games.
Five games and more than two hours later, the Nittany Lions finally put away the Mastodons, edging them 3-2, (30-20, 30-32, 30-23, 25-30, 15-13) to win their first five game match at home this season. In a previous match on Friday night, the Lions traveled to New Jersey and beat Rutgers-Newark, 3-1.
"That might have been as fun a match as I can remember here," head coach Mark Pavlik said. "All in all, it was a fun match, a good match to win against Fort Wayne."
After being crushed in Game 1, IPFW found its footing in Game 2 and gave the Lions a test. Still, Penn State brought the game to 29-24, allowing itself six game points. The team blew every chance it had, making three attack errors, one block error and giving IPFW a chance to tie up the game. The Mastodons eked out a win, tying the match at one game apiece.
"We tried to focus on the good things that we'd done over the past two games and just kind of wipe that out of memory pretty much," junior setter Luke Murray said.
With the Mastodons (12-7, 4-3 MIVA) carrying the momentum in the next game, the Lions were able to take Game 3. In Game 4, however, they could not come back from some early mistakes and were unable to win Game 4.
With the match and the Lions (14-5, 7-0 EIVA) undefeated home record on the line, Game 5, Penn State took the game and the match off a commanding kill by senior Alex Gutor.
"We probably should have been up at least two zero to put a little bit more pressure on them to do some things," Pavlik said. "We were playing well. You can't forget what you do well or what you're doing well during a match."
Sophomore Matt Anderson led the team with 22 kills and a hitting percentage of .317 but it was freshman Max Lipstiz who had the best match. He had 11 kills and only one error hitting with a .526 clip. He also contributed three service aces to the team's total of 11.
"He was a stud," Pavlik said. "He played very well."
Against Rutgers-Newark (2-21, 0-11 EIVA) on Friday night, the Lions had a bit of a slow start and an overall rough match. After losing the first game to the Scarlet Raiders, a team it soundly beat, 3-0 earlier in March, Penn State had to battle through three more grueling games to pull out a win.
"It was a typical EIVA after spring break match for us," Pavlik said. "You got to be able to win when you don't have your best stuff and last night was that for us. It was a good match for us to get back on our feet."
The win was a milestone for Pavlik, however, as he crossed into the 300-win club. Before Saturday night's match, he was honored with a plaque and now joins Tom Tait as the only two men's volleyball coaches to have 300 wins at Penn State. This gives Pavlik 135 wins in the EIVA and only four losses in his 12-year career.
The Lions will go on the road this week and travel to Juniata on Wednesday night for another EIVA match. In a previous meeting earlier this season, they kicked off conference play against the Eagles, beating them, 3-0.
