By Mike 05.07.11 at 10:30 am  In sports news, it was quite a light week. In real news, well… there was that little story from Sunday night. But overall for Penn State it was your typical early-summer week. We wrapped up the NFL Draft, saw PSU hoops bring on a new face, added a dash of fire to the quarterback controversy, and finished it all off with a red-headed smile.
Here’s our weekly roundup of featured posts, in case you missed anything.
Friday
Friday Recruitin’ Loves Stars, Hates Brady Hoke’s Linebacker Recruiting Prowess – by Jeff
Wednesday
Trib Report: PSU Had a QB Starter Before Spring Game – by Mike
Tuesday
Penn State Men’s Volleyball in NCAA Final Four, Starting Thursday – by Jeff
Monday
Report: Matt Glover to Penn State – by Eric
Last Weekend
Redskins Draft Evan Royster in 6th Round – by Mike
Follow LBU on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Linebacker-U.com by Email
By Jeff 05.03.11 at 11:00 am
 |
The 2008 championship team. Can the 2011 team recreate the magic?
(PHOTO: Volleyball.com) |
For the 12th time in a row, the Penn State men’s volleyball team took home the EIVA conference crown and earned an automatic berth in the 2011 NCAA tournament. It’s safe to say that eastern volleyball belongs to Penn State, regardless of gender. Now the men will go for their third national championship, and with home court advantage throughout the postseason, expectations are high.
For those unfamiliar with the sport or how it’s set up in terms of the postseason, here is a quick recap: In men’s volleyball, there are three conferences (EIVA, MIVA, and MPSF) covering the eastern, midwestern, and mountain/pacific regions of the country. The conference winners, as determined by conference tournaments similar to men’s basketball, earn an automatic bid to the tournament. The tournament only has four teams, so the final spot is filled by the highest ranked at-large team. As of 2011, a mere 29 teams made up these three conferences.
As expected, Penn State captured the EIVA title and Ohio State took home the MIVA title. A minor upset, though, occurred in the MPSF, where UC-Santa Barbara took the conference title, causing a ripple effect that likely knocked a Top 3 ranked team out of the tournament. Entering conference play, Penn State was ranked No. 10, Ohio State No. 9, UCSB No. 5, and USC No. 1.
USC earned the at-large bid and the number 1 seed overall. They will face UCSB at 7p on Thursday, May 5. Following that match, Penn State and Ohio State will square off to see who will likely face USC for the 2011 National Title. The championship will be played on Saturday, May 7, at 7p. All of the matches will air live on ESPN2.
The entire tournament will be played at Rec Hall in University Park. Penn State has hosted the tournament four times since the beginning of the tournament in 1970. Twice, the Nittany Lions have finished runners-up on their home court, but they have never taken home the crown. Overall, the Nittany Lions have two national titles, in 1994 and 2008. Comparatively, USC has four titles, while neither Ohio State nor UCSB have ever won a men’s volleyball title.
PSU and OSU split the season series, with Ohio State taking a 3-0 match on February 9 and PSU returning the favor 3-1 on April 10. On March 11, PSU beat UCSB 3-1, so if they happen to knock off USC and PSU takes care of OSU, Penn State should have the advantage in the finals.
Long time head coach Mark Pavlik and his merry band of all-stars will be tough to beat, but nothing will be easy with the other three teams in the tournament.
Follow LBU on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Linebacker-U.com by Email
By Jeff 04.04.11 at 2:00 pm
 |
|
Penn State’s, Edgardo Goas, left, Alan Mars, 8, and Joe Sunder, 17,
try to block the ball in a game against George Mason
on Saturday at Rec Hall. Penn State won 3-0.
(Photo: CDT/Joshua Sykes)
|
In what is becoming a recurring theme in the sport as of late, another Penn State volleyball team has won another title of some sort. This time, the 10th ranked men’s volleyball team won their 27th conference title in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) with a 3-0 victory over George Mason on Saturday. If you thought the women’s team was on a dynastic run, consider the following:
Penn State remained undefeated in conference play with the win and improved their all-time EIVA record to 236-11. The Nittany Lions have won an impressive 96% of their conference matches. This is the 15th time in program history the Nittany Lions finished the EIVA regular season undefeated and the 12th with head coach Mark Pavlik at the helm.
The team still has matches against Ohio State, Ball State, and IPFW before the conference tournament begins April 23. The Lions are the heavy favorite to take the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, set to take place from May 5-7 in the friendly confines of University Park, PA. Penn State was the runner up in the national finals a year ago, and took home the title in 2008. This will mark the third time in ten years that University Park played host to the NCAA tournament, and the first since 2006, when Penn State finished as national runner-up.
Follow LBU on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Linebacker-U.com by Email
By Mike 01.03.11 at 1:00 am Updated: 1/6/11
| No. |
Name |
Pos. |
Cl./El. |
Ht. |
High School |
Hometown |
| 13 |
Comfort, Tom |
Opp. |
SO |
6-6 |
Orchard Park |
Orchard Park, N.Y. |
| 2 |
Covello, Tor |
S |
JR |
6-4 |
Pennsbury |
Yardley, Pa. |
| 3 |
Curry, Connor |
L |
FR |
6-0 |
Newport Harbor |
Newport Beach, Calif. |
| 6 |
Del Valle, Dennis |
L |
SR |
5-8 |
Colegio Señora Merced |
Toa Alta, Puerto Rico |
| 7 |
Goas, Edgardo |
S |
RS JR |
6-5 |
Colegio Marista |
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| 4 |
Goodell, Nick |
OH |
FR |
6-4 |
Ambridge High |
Ambridge, Pa. |
| 12 |
Hendries, Ian |
MH |
SO |
6-8 |
La Costa Canyon |
Cardiff, Calif. |
| 15 |
Kegerreis, Scott |
OH |
RS FR |
6-6 |
Twin Valley |
Honeybrook, Pa. |
| 8 |
Mars, Alan |
OH |
SR |
6-7 |
Gates-Chili |
Rochester, N.Y. |
| 5 |
Mars, Kyle |
OH |
SO |
6-3 |
Gates Chili |
Rochester, N.Y. |
| 11 |
Olsen, Jace |
OH |
FR |
6-7 |
Mira Costa |
Manhattan Beach, Calif. |
| 9 |
Russell, Peter |
OH |
FR |
6-5 |
Centennial |
Ellicott City, Md. |
| 17 |
Sunder, Joe |
OH |
RS JR |
6-7 |
Hempfield |
Greensburg, Pa. |
| 10 |
Turko, Nick |
MH |
SO |
6-5 |
Red Land |
Lewisberry, Pa. |
| 14 |
Wolf, Ryan |
OH |
JR |
6-3 |
Central York |
York, Pa. |
| 16 |
Yasalonis, Joe |
MB/OPP |
FR |
6-8 |
Pennsbury |
Yardley, Pa. |
|
Coaches |
|
Mark Pavlik |
Head Coach |
|
Colin McMillan |
Assistant Coach |
|
Jay Hosack |
Assistant Coach |
By Tim 05.07.10 at 1:59 pm  Will Price gets ready to serve up a fresh helping of Red, White, and Blue rubber into his opponent’s face. Take that, latte-sipping West Coast hippie!
As you’ve likely heard by now, PSU’s men’s volleyball team swept Cal State Northridge in three sets last night, setting up a showdown with #1 ranked Stanford Saturday Night (7 PM ET, ESPN2). The Nittany Lions are vying for their second national title in three years, which combined with the Lady Lions’ Tom Emanski-like run of titles (back-to-back-to-back) would leave no doubt in anyone’s minds that the volleyball capital of the United States resides in State College, PA.
Such a feat would be nothing short of impressive when you consider the fact that PSU is the only Eastern school to have won national championships in what is otherwise a West Coast-dominated sport. The stats below, taken from NCAA Men’s Volleyball Wikipedia page illustrates my point.
| School |
# |
Last |
| UCLA |
19 |
2006 |
| Pepperdine |
5 |
2005 |
| Southern California |
4 |
1990 |
| BYU |
3 |
2004 |
| Penn State |
2 |
2008 |
| UC Irvine |
2 |
2009 |
| Long Beach State |
1 |
1991 |
| San Diego State |
1 |
1973 |
| Stanford |
1 |
1997 |
Also for good measure, check out the women’s national title results and you’ll notice that the only non-West Coast schools other than PSU to have won it include Nebraska (3 times) and Texas (once). Oh, and did I neglect to mention that the game is being played on Stanford’s home court? Even though Stanford doesn’t have the richest winning tradition in volleyball, playing any West Coast team on their home court for all the marbles can be a rather tall task not unlike playing in other hostile environments…
Okay, perhaps not THAT hostile (and racist), but you get my drift.
Follow LBU on Facebook and Twitter. You can also Subscribe to Linebacker-U.com by Email
By LBUadmin 01.01.10 at 1:03 am Updated: 5/19/2010
| No. |
Name |
Pos. |
Elig. |
Ht. |
Hometown/High School |
| 1 |
Brad McCoy |
OH |
JR |
2-Jun |
Irvine, Calif./Corona Del Mar |
| 2 |
Tor Covello |
S |
SO |
4-Jun |
Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury |
| 3 |
Jesse Wagner |
L |
JR |
8-May |
State College, Pa./State College Area |
| 4 |
Thomas Pereira |
OH |
JR |
4-Jun |
Brasilia, Brazil/François Mitterrand |
| 5 |
Jason Ambrose |
OH |
RS JR |
5-Jun |
Barrington, Ill./Barrington |
| 6 |
Dennis Del Valle |
L |
JR |
8-May |
Toa Alta, Puerto Rico/Colegio Señora Merced |
| 7 |
Edgardo Goas |
S |
RS SO |
5-Jun |
San Juan, Puerto Rico/Colegio Marista |
| 8 |
Alan Mars |
OH |
RS JR |
7-Jun |
Rochester, N.Y./Gates-Chili |
| 9 |
Max Lipsitz |
MH |
SR |
7-Jun |
Williamsville, N.Y./North |
| 10 |
Nick Turko |
MH |
FR |
5-Jun |
Lewisberry, Pa./Red Land |
| 11 |
Will Price |
Opp. |
SR |
5-Jun |
Gaithersburg, Md./Laytonsville |
| 12 |
Ian Hendries |
MH |
FR |
8-Jun |
Cardiff, Calif./La Costa Canyon |
| 13 |
Tom Comfort |
Opp. |
FR |
6-Jun |
Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park |
| 14 |
Ryan Wolf |
OH |
SO |
3-Jun |
York, Pa./Central York |
| 15 |
Kyle Mars |
OH |
FR |
3-Jun |
Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chili |
| 16 |
Mark Shipp |
MH |
SO |
7-Jun |
Cincinnati, Ohio/Archbishop Moeller |
| 17 |
Joe Sunder |
OH |
RS SO |
7-Jun |
Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield |
| 18 |
Scott Kegerreis |
OH |
FR |
6-Jun |
Honeybrook, Pa./Twin Valley |
| |
Coaches |
|
|
|
|
| |
Mark Pavlik – Head Coach |
|
|
|
|
| |
Colin McMillan – Assistant Coach |
|
|
|
|
| |
Jay Hosack – Assistant Coach |
|
|
|
|
| |
Chris Birch – Manager |
|
|
|
|
|
|
