In its first meeting since the NCAA semifinals last May, the Penn State men's volleyball team swept No. 10 Ohio State 3-0 (30-27, 30-24, 30-19) in its second match at the Outrigger Invitational in Honolulu.
Three Nittany Lions had double digits kills on the night as juniors Max Lipsitz and Will Price tallied 12, while senior Ryan Sweitzer recorded 15. Penn State also hit at a .422 clip over the three sets, much improved from its .281 mark against No. 7 USC the night before.
"It just seemed like tonight the guys were a little bit better centered," coach Mark Pavlik said. "Last night I think was some opening night adrenaline rush 'look what I can do' and I think we got that out of our system and settled down a bit...It just seemed to flow a little bit smoother. It didn't seem like we were forcing things and I thought last night we forced things a little."
Redshirt freshman Edgardo Goas, playing in his second collegiate match, recorded 45 assists and had eight digs on the night and has already impressed Pavlik, especially in Thursday night's fifth game against USC.
"I think when you get into a fifth game, setters don't necessarily win fifth games, but setters can lose fifth games," Pavlik said. "I think Edgardo really played well in the fifth game last night and I think today he came out with a better understanding of here's what we want to do offensively against the Buckeyes and here's what we want to get better at and he really made a conscious effort to be a better setter than he was [Thursday]."
Once again, the Lions will have to recover quickly as Penn State finishes up action at the Outrigger Invitational when it takes on host and 13th ranked Hawaii Saturday at 11:59 EST.
