Nittany Lions set sights on own national crown

By Gordon Brunskill

- gbrunski@centredaily.com

Just a few weeks ago, the Penn State men’s volleyball team gathered together and watched their female counterparts win a national championship.

Then, a few days later, a few members of each team were together to watch a replay of the title match.

“It’s great motivation for us,” junior middle hitter Max Holt said. “All the hard work they put in, now we need to do the same thing.” Now it is the men’s turn.

The first step comes tonight when they open their season, as they often do, in the Outrigger Invitational in Honolulu against No. 11 Hawaii.

“We’re pretty excited,” Holt said. “After watching the girls, I just want to get into it.”

The fourth-ranked Nittany Lions have been sniffing that title chance for years. With far fewer men’s programs, their spot in the national semifinals has been about as automatic as you can get. They’ve been there each of the last nine seasons and 22 times overall. Only 19-time champion UCLA (25) has been in the tournament more often.

If they can earn a second title to go with the one captured in 1994, they could be only the second program to win a men’s and women’s title in the same school year, joining Stanford.

This Nittany Lion squad has the power and experience to make it possible.

The team has four starters back and three of them got the kind of work last summer that far exceeds anything they see in the NCAA. Holt, fellow middle Max Lipsitz and outside hitter Matt Anderson all started on the U.S. junior national team in the World Championships in Morocco.

With teams like Russia, Cuba and Italy, the Bruins don’t seem that tough.

“It keeps our skills polished,” Anderson said. “It’s almost like the Olympics. There was a lot of pressure to perform well.”

The team has to replace starting libero Ryan Walthall and outside hitters Aaron Smith and Alex Gutor, who was go-to clutch hitter last year. Stepping into their shoes are junior outside hitters Jay Stauffer and Ryan Sweitzer and freshman libero Dennis Del Valle, who got tons of international experience in Puerto Rico.

At the center of the spider web is Luke Murray, who with a year of starting experience will keep the offense running at a high tempo.

“If Luke drops off, this team is going to drop off,” head coach Mark Pavlik said. “He’s doing a pretty good job and we need to make sure he keeps doing that.”

A new addition to the team is Jon Sherrick, a 6-foot-5 middle and right-side player who transferred from St. Francis. Also, Anderson, who has grown three inches to 6-10 since he arrived on campus, will move from a left-side to right-side hitting position.

Another new addition is freshman and State College graduate Jesse Wagner, who also will be a libero and defensive specialist.

“You put him and Dennis in the back row together,” Pavlik said, “they’re quick enough and have played enough volleyball they’ll give us opportunities to score points with their defense.”

Left to wait their turn and give plenty of competition in practice will be Will Price, Joe Sunder and Edgardo Gonzalez. Price, the younger brother of former Nittany Lion Andrew Price who also played in the World Championships, must sit out this year after transferring from George Mason where he was the Colonials’ top hitter. Sunder, an outside hitter from Hempfield, and Gonzalez, a 6-5 setter from Puerto Rico, will each redshirt.

The team is seeking its 10 straight Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association title, and two wins after that would bring a national championship. The women’s team has paved the way.

“It’s great being able to say, ‘You’re in the home of national champions,” Pavlik said. “We’d love to fall in those footsteps.”