As redshirt freshman Edgardo Goas exited the game Saturday night, he smiled and waved to the crowd before hugging his replacement, freshman Tor Covello.
The rout was on and so was the parade from the bench.
During the Penn State men's volleyball team's victories over Princeton and Mount Olive this weekend, every member of the Penn State roster found his way onto the court.
Against Princeton, it was sophomore Alan Mars, seniors Jon Sherrick and Jay Stauffer, along with freshman Ryan Wolf who helped contribute to a 3-0 (30-20, 30-23, 30-27) victory.
On Saturday, that group was followed by the rest of the Nittany Lions, who joined in on a 3-0 (30-20, 30-15, 30-23) drubbing of Mount Olive.
The bench's presence on the court helped rest Penn State starters, who will have to go through a five-match road swing over the final three weeks of the regular season.
"When you get opportunities like this, I think you've got to manage them," coach Mark Pavlik said. "Even if it means taking our fifth middle in Joe Sunder and throwing him in so you can get Max [Holt] out and recognized."
Pavlik said he made the move to get his players into some in-match pressure situations, situations they can't re-create in practice. He went on to say he was pleased with his reserves' performance, saying the experience should help improve the quality of play in the practice gym.
Even with the reserves seeing extended playing time, Penn State still managed to find an offensive balance.
Both nights, only one player managed to record double-digit kills.
Holt had 11 kills Friday and senior Ryan Sweitzer chipped in 13 on Saturday.
With this balance, the Lions felt it opened up more holes in the defense and helped them run a crisper offense.
"Once you start setting other guys, once you start setting Sweitz, with the amount of sets he gets and Will [Price] when he was in there, it just opens everything up," Holt said. "If you have Sweitz putting down 13 balls, it's just more one-on-ones for me and Johnny or me and [Max Lipsitz] or whoever's in."
The Lions were without Lipsitz Saturday night, who was experiencing some shoulder trouble after only regis-tering one kill on two attempts Friday night.
Pavlik said his absence was only precautionary and the Lions were trying to rest his shoulder. The injury happened because Lipsitz's swing mechanics lead
to some pain from time to time, Pavlik said.
"He's also not as strong," Sherrick joked.
With the two victories, the Lions moved to 20-3 (9-0) on the season and with a win against NJIT Saturday, Penn State will secure home-court for the EIVA championship.
"Our magic number is down to one and if we get that win next week, hopefully we can start settling in to prepare EIVAs," Pavlik said, "and preparing for the final two weekends of the season."
