Columbus, Ohio, April 3, 2005 --The third-ranked Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team increased its winning streak to nine matches with a four-game defeat of No. 12 Ohio State Sunday afternoon, 30-32, 30-25, 30-20, 30-21. The Nittany Lions improve to 25-3 while the Buckeyes fall to 17-7.
Five Penn State players registered double-digit kill figures, led by juniors Matt Proper (Guys Mills, Pa.) and Nate Meerstein (Pittsburgh, Pa.) with 16 each. Junior Kevin Wentzel (Pittsburgh, Pa.) tied his season high with 13 kills, senior Keith Kowal (Reading, Pa.) recorded 12 kills while hitting .632 (12-0-19) and sophomore Aaron Smith (Richmond, Va.) posted a season-high 10 kills on 16 swings. As a team, Penn State hit .460 (72-15-124), a season-high for the squad in a four-game match. Junior setter Dan O¡¯Dell (Rochester, N.Y.) directed the offense with 60 assists to go along with his four kills. Smith and freshman libero Gary Vogel (Lancaster, Pa.) each recorded seven digs in the contest as Wentzel posted five. Penn State posted its 26th double-digit blocking match of the year, recording 17.5 team blocks to Ohio State¡¯s 9.0. Kowal fell one block shy of his career high with 12 blocks to increase his per-game average to 1.71 for the season. O¡¯Dell also came just short of his career-best, recording seven blocks as Proper and Smith both added five. Ohio State was led by Andy Cole with 19 kills as Mark Greaves posted 17. Daniel Mathews dished out 59 assists and both Daniels and Scott Spurlock led the team with four blocks. The Nittany Lions return to Rec Hall for their final regular-season home match on Saturday, April 9 when they host Princeton at 7:00 p.m. Admission to the match is free. With the win over George Mason on April 1, Penn State clinched the EIVA regular-season title and will host an EIVA Quarterfinal against an opponent yet to be determined on Saturday, April 23 (Blue-White Football weekend). Should the Nittany Lions win that match, Penn State will host the EIVA Semifinals and Championship on Thursday and Saturday, April 28 and 30 at Rec Hall for the right to advance to the NCAA Championship Semifinals, hosted by UCLA on Thursday, May 5. The National Championship match is slated for Saturday, May 7. For more information on the Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.
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