Senior Alex Gutor was pumped. As the starting lineup was read before the match, he went down the line, slapping the hands of all his fellow team members and then jogging back to his spot in line.

The stage was set for a great match as behind him stood the Penn State cheerleaders, the Nittany Lion, a small pep band and the loyal followers of the Penn State men's volleyball team.

In the end, no one in attendance was denied a good show as the Nittany Lions easily defeated Princeton 3-0, (30-16, 30-22, 30-22) and successfully moved on to the final round of the EIVA tournament.

"We were firing on all cylinders," Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik said. "They played hard, but they can't dig that many balls if we stay physical."

Even with a strong start by the Tigers (12-10, 6-7 EIVA) in Game 1, nothing could slow down Penn State (20-7, 13-0 EIVA) in its first test on the way to the NCAA Final Four. The middle hitters, sophomore Max Holt and freshman Max Lipsitz, led their team, hitting .667 and .600 respectively.

Their elite play extended into Game 2 as Lipsitz went 4-for-4 and made no errors. Holt followed the path of his fellow middle hitter, going 3-for-4 and making no errors as well. At the end of the game, Lipsitz led the Lions with a .778 clip and Holt took second with a .700 hitting percentage.

"Our middles did a great job in transit, in running and hitting gaps and really forcing [Mike] Vincent and [Evan] Pasion to keep up with those two," Pavlik said. "They did exactly what we asked them to do."

The ease of the first two games caught up with Penn State, and it relaxed its play in Game 3. Both Lipsitz and Holt made their first and only errors of the match. The Max's ended with clips of .467 and .625, the top two hitting percentages for the team.

Princeton had no answer for either of the middle hitters or any other Lion on the court. Gutor, who had a disappointing Game 2, finished the night with a .385 hitting percentage and 15 kills for the team high.

All the offensive power of Penn State can be attributed to junior setter Luke Murray, who set 45 balls and gave all the players on the floor a chance for kills. Sophomore Matt Anderson and Holt both had 11 kills to tie for second for the Lions and add to the team hitting percentage of .418.

"I came into the match expecting what happened," Princeton head coach Glenn Nelson said. "Their offense was a lot quicker than it was the last couple times that we played them, and we couldn't hang with them."

In the first semifinal match of the EIVA tournament, St. Francis (16-11, 8-5 EIVA) defeated George Mason (12-10, 7-6 EIVA) 3-1 (30-24, 30-27, 27-30, 30-27). Senior Marc Honore of the Red Flash led his team with a .742 clip and notched 25 kills. The Lions will be looking to control him as well as his teammate, freshman Jordan Varee, in the final match of the tournament that will take place at 7:30 tomorrow night in Rec Hall.

"Part of our game plan is to try to minimize the impact that Marc Honore can have," Murray said. "When he is in the front row, we are going to try to serve really tough and as long as we do that, everything will fall into place."