UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., April 20, 2004 - Junior men¡¯s volleyball player Keith Kowal (Reading, Pa.) was named the Uvaldo Acosta Memorial EIVA Player of the Year and freshman Alex Gutor (Irving, Texas) picked up Newcomer of the Year accolades as seven Nittany Lions were selected to the All-East team, league officials announced.

Kowal also earned first team All-East honors, joining teammates Nate Meerstein (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Dan O¡¯Dell (Rochester, N.Y.), Matt Proper (Guys Mills, Pa.), Kevin Wentzel (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Ricky Mattei (San Juan, Puerto Rico) on the first team. Gutor rounded out the Nittany Lion All-East selections with second team accolades.

Kowal¡¯s selection as the league¡¯s Player of the Year marks the eighth time in the last eight seasons that the top player in the conference has come from Penn State. Gutor follows Dan O¡¯Dell as the second Nittany Lion in the last two years to pick up the Newcomer of the Year award. Penn State¡¯s seven All-East selections bring the Nittany Lion total to 136 since the 1972 season.

Kowal leads the team and the nation in hitting percentage, attacking at a .578 clip while averaging a team-high 3.87 kills per game. The junior middle hitter was named EIVA Player of the Week on three occasions during the season, also picking up MVP honors at the Springfield Hall of Fame Classic and earning all-tournament accolades at the Hawaii Outrigger Hotels Invitational. He currently sits at fifth on the Penn State single-season block assist chart with 119 block assists and is climbing the career blocking charts, ranking seventh with 311 career blocks. He is on pace to shatter his own single-season hitting percentage record of .504, which he set last season. This is the first EIVA Player of the Year award for Kowal and his second first-team All-East accolade as he was honored in 2003.

Gutor ranks fifth on the squad in kills per game with 2.26 and set his career high with 15 kills at Rutgers-Newark on March 26. The freshman outside hitter recorded his first career double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs against IPFW on April 16 and has led the team in kills on three different occasions, including three of the last four matches.

Meerstein has had a breakout season, sitting at second on the team and in the country in hitting percentage (.514) while producing an average of 2.71 kills per game. His 19 kills at Juniata on March 23 ranks as a career high and he has led the team in kills for the last two matches. The sophomore middle hitter has recorded at least one block in every match of the season, including two matches of 10 blocks or more. He currently sits at sixth on the single-season block assist list with 117 block assists. This is the first first-team All-East accolade for Meerstein.

O¡¯Dell leads the team and ranks fifth in the country with 13.48 assists per game. The sophomore broke his own Nittany Lion rally-scoring-era record for assists in a match with 79 against Hawaii in the squad¡¯s season-opener at Hawaii on Jan. 8 and has led the team in assists in all but one match of the year. O¡¯Dell also ranks second on the team in digs per game, producing an average of 1.44. His career-high 13 digs at Juniata on March 23 was half of his fourth double-double of the season. This is the second All-East honor for O¡¯Dell and his first first-team accolade, as he was honored last season with a second team selection.

Proper picks up his first first-team All-East accolades as he ranks second on the team with 3.07 kills per game and 3.94 points per game. The sophomore opposite posted a career-high 20 kills at Hawaii on Jan. 8 and came just one block shy of recording a triple-double at Lewis on Jan. 17, tallying 14 kills, 10 digs and nine blocks. Proper has led the squad in kills on four occasions, including back-to-back outings of 18 and 19 kills, respectively, against Springfield and UC Irvine.

Wentzel leads the team with 0.31 service aces per game and sits at second with an average of 3.07 kills per game. The sophomore outside hitter posted a career-high 18 kills against Ball State on March 20 and recorded a career-high six blocks against Springfield on April 3. Wentzel has led the team in kills on seven different occasions and tallied a career-high three service aces at Juniata on Feb. 3. This is the first first-team All-East honor for Wentzel.

Mattei picks up his third first-team All-East accolades as he was honored in 2003 and 2002. The senior libero leads the team in digs per game with 2.32 and is Penn State¡¯s all-time career digs leader with 880. He was named the EIVA Player of the Week on April 7 and was also named to the all-tournament teams at the Springfield Hall of Fame Classic and the Hawaii Outrigger Hotels Invitational. Mattei came close to breaking his own rally-scoring-era record for digs in a match, tying the mark at 17 against Hawaii on Jan. 8. He has led the squad in digs in 18 matches of the season, hitting the double-digit mark on eight occasions. Mattei also boasts an overall passer rating of 96%, with only 18 reception errors in 477 attempts, including a 98% mark (5 in 271) against nationally ranked teams.

Penn State takes on Sacred Heart in the quarterfinals of the EIVA Tournament on Saturday, April 24 at 7:00 p.m. at Rec Hall. Admission to the match is free and livestats will be available on the web at www.GoPSUsports.com.

The semifinals and final of the EIVA tournament will be held at Penn State on Thursday and Saturday, April 29 and May 1. The winner of the Rutgers-Newark/NYU quarterfinal will play the winner of the Juniata/Springfield quarterfinal in the first semifinal match at 5:00 p.m. The winner of the Penn State/Sacred Heart quarterfinal will play the winner of the Princeton/George Mason quarterfinal in the second semifinal match at 7:30 p.m.

The winners of each of the semifinal matches advance to the final, which will be held on Saturday, May 1 at 5:00 p.m. and will be televised live on CSTV. Admission to the semifinals and final is $4 for adults, $2 for youth and senior citizens and $1 for groups of 10 or more. Admission is free for Penn State students showing their ID.

The winner of the EIVA Tournament earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Semifinal on May 6 hosted by the University of Hawaii.

For more information on the Penn State men¡¯s volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.

2004 ALL-EAST TEAM

First Team
Keith Kowal, Penn State, MB, 6¡¯5¡±, Jr., Reading, PA
Nate Meerstein, Penn State, MB, 6¡¯9¡±, So., Pittsburgh, PA
Dan O¡¯Dell, Penn State, S, 6¡¯7¡±, So., Rochester, NY
Aleks Ondelj, Rutgers-Newark, S, 6¡¯5¡±, Sr., Orlando, FL
Andrew Pink, Rutgers-Newark, OH, 6¡¯4¡±, Jr., Evanston, IL
Matt Proper, Penn State, Opp, 6¡¯6¡±, So., Guys Mills, PA
Henry Richardson, Rutgers-Newark, MB, 6¡¯7¡±, So, Lewiston, NY
Kevin Wentzel, Penn State, OH, 6¡¯4¡±, So., Pittsburgh, PA
Ricky Ziegler, Juniata, S, 6¡¯5¡±, Jr., Manchester, PA
Ricky Mattei, Penn State, L, 5¡¯11¡±, Sr., San Juan, PR

Second Team
Felix Campos, George Mason, OH, 6¡¯3¡±, Jr., Puerto Nuevo, PR
Brian Dinning, Juniata, Opp, 6¡¯5¡±, Sr., Pittsburgh, PA
Kenny Eiser, Juniata, MB, 6¡¯4¡±, Sr., Doylestown, PA
Alex Gutor, Penn State, OH, 6¡¯3¡±, Fr., Irving, TX
Brian Hamming, Princeton, MB, 6¡¯9¡±, So., Lake Forest, IL
Brain Honsberger, Rutgers-Newark, OH, 6¡¯5¡±, So., Lancaster, NY
Brandon Mueller, Springfield, OH, 6¡¯2¡±, Jr., Bartlett, IL
Blake Robinson, Princeton, OH, 6¡¯4¡±, Jr., Aliso Viejo, CA
Matt Steinfurth, George Mason, MB, 6¡¯7¡±, So, Portsmouth, VA
Eduardo Stawinski, Springfield, L, 5¡¯10¡±, Jr., San Juan, PR

Uvaldo Acosta Memorial Player of the Year
Keith Kowal, Penn State, MB, 6¡¯5¡±, Jr., Reading, PA

EIVA Newcomer of the Year
Alex Gutor, Penn State, OH, 6¡¯3¡±, Fr., Irving, TX

04/26/08 - Highlights vs. George Mason
04/24/08 - Highlights vs. NYU
03/29/08 - Highlights vs. Ball State
03/28/08 - Highlights vs. Ohio State
03/01/08 - Highlights vs. NJIT
02/29/08 - Highlights vs. East Stroudsburg