No. 10 Penn State takes the win over EIVA opponent Harvard in three sets.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Nittany Lions showed their dominance in a quick match against the Crimson to get their sixth sweep in a row against them. Penn State’s record now sits at 16-6 while Harvard’s is 11-7.

“We passed the ball really well tonight. We knew that Harvard could have some servers that could give us some problems, but I thought overall we did a real nice job handling first contacts and just kept doing what we do all match long,” head coach Mark Pavlik said. “It was a good way to at least lengthen our lead in the EIVA.”

Penn State stays undefeated at home with a 10-0 record and they stay in first place in the EIVA standings going 5-0. The last time the Crimson beat the Nittany Lions was in 2018 which means there are no current players on Penn State’s roster who have lost to Harvard. The Crimson were looking to use their winning 10 of their last 12 games as momentum coming into this one, but that would not work over the home team.

John Kerr and Michael Valenzi helped out the blue and white in the kills department. Kerr had 12 in this match while Valenzi came close to his season high with 11.

Even though Penn State was very dominant throughout the three sets, they still had 18 service errors. They made up for it though with aces as the team had 11, five of which coming from Michal Kowal. Owen Rose was a big net front presence this evening with five blocks as he was approaching his season high in that category.

The schedule is ramping up for the Nittany Lions as they have five games left, all of which are EIVA opponents. Penn State has currently won 33 consecutive EIVA regular season matches so it will be interesting to see if any of that changes throughout the remainder of the season.

After the regular season, Penn State will play in the EIVA Tournament which begins on April 17. Rec Hall might end up being the home for the tournament with the Nittany Lions playing host.

“We talk about it every day. It’s super important. It's where we want to be in the postseason and we feel very comfortable here,” Valenzi said.

The Nittany Lions are 46-4 at Rec Hall over the last four seasons including winning 13 straight, five of which being against nationally-ranked opponents.

The blue and white will take on the Crimson again tomorrow to see if they can stay undefeated in EIVA play or if Harvard will bounce back from this loss.

“I have no doubt they’re gonna come back a little bit more emotionally invested tomorrow. It’ll be a good match,” Pavlik said.

Kassie Vasellas is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email kmv5506@psu.edu