The Penn State men’s volleyball team was busy last week. After losing to Ohio State on Wednesday, the Nittany Lions grabbed two wins against conference foes last weekend.

Penn State was thoroughly beaten by Ohio State on Wednesday, 3-0 (17-25, 20-25, 21-25). The No. 6 Buckeyes dominated the entire first set and won slightly closer second and third sets. Joe Sunder led the Nittany Lions with 13 kills, and Peter Russell had seven. Ohio State served seven aces, compared to just two for Penn State.

On Friday, Penn State returned to conference play against Rutgers-Newark. The teams played a close match that the Nittany Lions eked out 3-1 (25-19, 28-26, 29-31, 25-19) victory. Sunder led the Nittany Lions again with 17 kills, while Nick Turko contributed 13 on .750 hitting. Penn State hit better than Rutgers-Newark, had more digs, and served seven more aces. However, Rutgers-Newark kept the match close at the net, registering 12 team blocks.

Princeton turned out to be a much easier opponent for Penn State when they played on Saturday. Tom Comfort got a rare start and Tor Covello shared setting duties with regular-starter Edgardo Goas. Comfort and Covello made the most of their opportunity. Comfort led the Nittany Lions with 12 kills and Covello had 18 assists. Penn State won the match 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-23).

After their busy week, the Nittany Lions’ record stands at 8-3 overall and 4-0 in conference play. Next week, Penn State has two home games against small schools from North Carolina. Mount Olive, Penn State’s opponent on Friday, has an enrollment of 3,390, while Penn State’s opponent on Saturday, Lees McRae, has just 700 students.

Upcoming schedule:

Friday: vs. Mount Olive, 7 p.m.
Saturday: vs. Lees McRae, 3 p.m.