The No. 7 Penn State men's volleyball team closed out its regular season on the road this weekend, but did so without the use of outside hitter Alex Gutor.
Gutor missed the weekend with an ankle sprain, but still traveled with the team. With out the help of one their captains, the Nittany Lions (20-7, 12-0 EIVA) split their two matches.
They won their first match of the trip against Lewis, 3-0 (31-29, 30-18, 30-26), and dropped their second, against No. 11 Loyola-Chicago, 3-0 (23-30, 24-30, 25-30).
In winning Friday night, the Lions beat a Lewis team still recovering from 2003 NCAA recruiting sanctions that stripped it of the 2003 national championship for several infractions, including unethical conduct by the former head men's volleyball coach and a lack of institutional control in its athletics program.
Against the Flyers, the Lions looked like their dominant selves in sweeping the match.
Matt Anderson led the Lions offensively throughout the weekend, contributing 27 kills on .489 hitting against Lewis. He had 13 kills on .265 hitting against Loyola-Chicago.
Anderson was the lone Lion with double digit kills in both matches.
Against Loyola-Chicago though, the Lions came up short.
"We got done to us what we've done to other teams this year," Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik said. "We got out-physicaled."
Penn State's loss at the net was most apparent in the middle - a place where Penn State has had an advantage throughout the season.
Against the Ramblers, both Max Holt and Max Lipsitz were dominated. Holt faired the best of the two, posting nine kills on .263 hitting. Lipsitz had one kill on a -.111 clip.
"We can't let this shake our belief in what we do," Pavlik said of the loss and what the team needs to do to be successful in the upcoming EIVA tournament and beyond.
"Now we've seen [top-tier competition]," Pavlik said. "This is why we want to schedule these kinds of teams late."
NOTES
With five aces this weekend, Max Holt bettered his single-season record and now has 54 aces - seven better than the previous mark.
He has 79 aces for his career, placing him eighth on Penn State's career aces list.
