Men's Volleyball to Host Sacred Heart, No. 10 Penn State

Match Notes I Live Stats I Video

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- The IPFW men's volleyball team will host Sacred Heart on Friday, March 8 and end the weekend with a home match against No. 10 Penn State on Saturday, March 9. Each contest will begin at 7 p.m.

ABOUT FORT WAYNE
The Mastodons are now 6-7 overall after taking back-to-back losses at Grand Canyon last weekend. The 'Dons are stepping away from MIVA play to host Sacred Heart and Penn State before they leave for California where they will play vs. George Mason and at No. 3 Long Beach State.

Eddie Rivera is having a solid season as he leads the team in kills (158) and digs (89). Rivera has two double-double games to his effort with a 14 kill, 13 dig match at Ball State followed by a 17 kill, 12 dig match at Ohio State the next game.

Omar Rivera is the team leader in assists with 451 and Ramon Burgos leads the team in blocks with 50.

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Sacred Heart is 2-11 entering the weekend. The Pioneers are on a three-game losing streak after falling at Princeton and at George Mason this past weekend. The team picked up their two wins on the season vs. Ramapo 3-0 and most recently at Rutgers-Newark 3-0.

Brad Borsay is an impact player on the Pioneer roster. Borsay leads the team with 143 kills on the season. He is averaging three kills per set, attacking at a .228 percentage. Borsay is also the team leader in service aces with 15.

SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS
No. 10 Penn State is 14-3 overall with an 8-1 conference record. The Nittany Lions are 9-1 when playing at home and 4-1 on the road. Two of Penn State's losses have come against ranked teams. The third is receiving votes.

Penn State traveled to Hawaii to start the 2013 season by playing three nationally ranked teams. They lost to UCLA 3-2 in the season opener, but came back to defeat Hawaii 3-2 and Ohio State 3-0.

ALL-TIME SERIES
The last time IPFW faced Penn State was during the 2011 regular season when the ninth ranked Nittany Lions took down the Mastodons 3-0 in University Park. The first meeting between these two programs came during the 1984 season as Penn State swept a two-game series 3-0, 3-1. The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series 39-12. The last time IPFW knocked off Penn State was in 2007.

The Mastodons lead the all-time series over Sacred Heart 2-1. These two teams met for the first time in 2011 as they split the season series. IPFW grabbed a 2-1 advantage in the series with a 3-2 road win earlier this season.

LAST TIME OUT
Despite a career-high 20 kills from freshman Andy Sellan, the IPFW Mastodons fell in four sets to the Grand Canyon Coyotes by scores of 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-19.

Sellan had a match-high 20 kills, while Eddie Rivera and Anthony Randolph each had 10 in the loss. Omar Rivera dished out 49 assists, while Luis Bertran picked up 13 digs. Ramon Burgos added six blocks, while Omar Rivera chipped in five.

The first set was a tight back-and-forth battle that saw nine tie scores and four lead changes, IPFW trailed late in the set, at 23-20, before the 'Dons rattled off five straight points, including back-to-back blocks by Burgos and Randolph to end the frame with an IPFW 25-23 win.

IPFW used a pair of 4-0 runs to jump ahead 9-7 in the second set, and led by three at 13-10 before the hosts ran off a 5-2 run to tie the score at 15.

Grand Canyon pushed ahead to a 22-20 lead late in the set, before IPFW fought back to within one at 24-23; however, a Ryan Mather kill ended the threat for the Mastodons in the set.

In set three, IPFW scored the first three points, before Grand Canyon followed with a 3-0 run of their own to tie the score at three apiece. The teams proceeded to go back-and-forth until the set was tied at 12 points apiece, and the hosts then opened a 6-1 run to lead 18-13, and cruised to the 25-21 third-set win.

IPFW controlled the fourth set early, leading throughout, including by three at 17-14; however, Grand Canyon put its foot on the gas pedal, out-scoring IPFW 9-2 the rest of the way for the 25-19 GCU win.

TOUGH COMPETITION
The last time IPFW faced Penn State was during the 2011 regular season when the ninth ranked Nittany Lions took down the Mastodons 3-0 in University Park. The first meeting between these two programs came during the 1984 season as Penn State swept a two-game series 3-0, 3-1. The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series 39-12. The last time IPFW knocked off Penn State was in 2007.

The Mastodons lead the all-time series over Sacred Heart 2-1. These two teams met for the first time in 2011 as they split the season series. IPFW grabbed a 2-1 advantage in the series with a 3-2 road win earlier this season.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics

Men's Volleyball to Host Sacred Heart, No. 10 Penn State

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