The Penn State men’s volleyball team’s dream of a national championship is still alive and well.
The No. 3 Nittany Lions (27-3) earned a 25-22, 24-26, 25-13, 26-24 victory against No. 9 Ohio State on Tuesday at George Mason’s EagleBank Arena.
“It’s always fun playing against our Big Ten brothers,” coach Mark Pavlik said after the match. “This was a worthy Big Ten championship match that everybody saw tonight.”
Following the lead of opposite Cal Fisher with 18 kills on .533 hitting, three aces, seven blocks and seven digs, Penn State advances to the national semifinals on Thursday. Across the net will be No. 1 Hawaii, the two-time defending national champion and the No. 2 seed. Long Beach State and top-seeded UCLA battle in the other semifinal, with the title match set for Saturday. Penn State is seeking its third national championship, with the last in 2009.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Fisher said. “I’m excited for it.”
Michal Kowal and Brett Wildman each added nine kills, with Kowal succeeding on .500 hitting with three aces. As a team, Penn State had 10 aces, compared to the Buckeyes’ four.
Ryan Merk picked up 10 digs and Owen Rose put up eight blocks. EIVA 2023 Player of the Year Cole Bogner handed out 35 assists and directed the offense to .359 hitting, with just eight errors over the four sets.
“Cole is just somebody that — you don’t ever want to underrate him as a competitor,” Pavlik said. “He figures out what he needs to do to win and he works his butt off to make that happen.”
The Buckeyes were paced by Shane Wetzel’s 20 kills on .484 hitting, Jacob Pasteur’s 16 kills, Michael Wright’s 40 assists and 10 digs and Thomas Poole’s 11 digs.
Penn State had a major advantage in blocks, with an 11-4 edge, and held Ohio State to .256 hitting. The Buckeyes did have a 55-41 edge in kills.
The Nittany Lions and Buckeyes split their two meetings during the regular season, with Ohio State winning March 21 at Rec Hall — Penn State’s last loss before starting their current nine-match win streak.
Fisher capped a tight opening set with an ace, and after dropping the second, Penn State used its serve to dominate the third frame. The Lions closed the set on a 10-2 run, including six straight points on Kowal’s serve, with a pair of aces among the points.
In the fourth, Penn State fought off a Buckeye set point before scoring the final three points, which included another Fisher ace and Pasteur sailing a spike wide for his team’s 24th hitting error.
A day earlier, the Nittany Lions picked up national honors with all seven starters earning American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America status. The seven awards matched UCLA and Long Beach State for the most in the nation this season. Bogner and Toby Ezeonu were first-team selections and Fisher was named to the second team. Bogner and Fisher are three-time All-Americans. Kowal, Merk, Rose and Wildman were honorable mention All-Americans.
