Penn State gets gear ready for strong opening in the season – Men’s Volleyball
The men’s volleyball team of Penn State is scheduled to open the regular season on Saturday, January 14, 2012.
They will be challenged by No. 8 Ohio State, while the cracking fight is set to take place in Columbus, Ohio. Since it is going to be first encounter of the year between these two teams, there is a lot of buzz going on about the match. Both sides are undergoing
extensive training to prepare for the upcoming match. Especially the Nittany Lions of Penn State, who finished the 2011 season with an outstanding record of 24-7 and closed out the previous campaign ranked 5th in the nation, are up to give a hard knock to
Ohio State in the season opener.
Nevertheless, the Nittany Lions will be required to display flawless performance against Ohio State if they would really like to win. The hosts will be equipped with a lot of emotional support of home crowd and they will also have the competitive edge of
playing at the familiar court. In such a scenario, the Penn State will have to fight the double challenge i.e. the team and the audience.
Penn State is opening the new season with a team, which has 13 letter-winners and 6 starters from the last season squad. Mark Pavlik, who has been with the Nittany Lions for last 18 years, has the daunting task to lead his team to success. The final grid
of players has not been decided yet but they will be selected from the following players:
Tor Covello – Setter Tom Comfort – Junior opposite Ryan Wolf – Outside hitter (OH) Kyle Gregan – Middle hitter Nick Turko – MH Joe Sunder – OH Matt Seifert – MH Aaron Russell – OH Jace Olsen – OH Connor Curry – Libero Edgardo Goas – Setter Nick Goodell – OH Peter Russell – OH Scott Kegerreis – OH Taylor Hammond – S Ian Hendries – MH Nick Turko – MH
Mark Pavlik, the mentor of Nittany Lions, comes with a wealth of experience. He has a great eye for players who deserve to be on the centre court. He will pick out only the best from the pool of available players.
After facing Ohio State in the season opening affair, the team will have four other road matches. Eventually the Penn State Lions will play at home court in the sixth match of the season. In 2011, Lions played a total of 17 matches away from home and clinched
success in 15, which was pretty good. However, the Lions totally whitewashed the opponents in 10 home games last season.
Penn State is scheduled to return home to host Mount Olive and Cal-Baptist in February 2012. Currently, the Nittany Lions are all focused to outdo Ohio State in the next match on Sunday. Let’s wait and see if Nittany Lions exhibit a stellar performance and
win the match.
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