Penn State men’s volleyball, the newly-crowned EIVA Tournament champion, punched its ticket into the NCAA Tournament after a 3-0 sweep of Princeton on April 22 and the completion of a perfect 10-0 conference season.

The NCAA Tournament runs from April 30 to May 6 and is hosted by George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia. Head coach Mark Pavlik’s squad is already familiar with EagleBank Arena, as it swept both matches against the conference foe earlier in the season.

Penn State earned the third overall seed on Selection Sunday. Although the Nittany Lions weren’t awarded a coveted two-seed, they earned a singular bye and will kick off the tournament at 7:30 p.m. on May 2 against the winner of Ohio State and King University.

The Nittany Lions have a true shot at the championship after a historical, dominant season. The blue and white haven’t clinched an NCAA Tournament title since coach Pavlik’s squad came out on top over Pepperdine in four sets in 2008.

This year’s team has one goal on its mind, and that’s bringing a national championship back to Happy Valley. Penn State has already defeated the two higher-ranked teams in this year’s field: No. 2 UCLA and No. 1 Hawaii. The Nittany Lions took down the Bruins on February 4 in four sets and defeated Hawaii at the Outrigger Challenge in March.

Penn State has a chip on its shoulder this postseason, especially after avenging last year’s loss to Princeton in the EIVA Tournament. EIVA Player of the Year Cole Bogner reflected on that extra motivation after getting back at Princeton in this year’s EIVA Championship.

“Revenge is pretty sweet. So it was always lying in the back of our heads…but we never wanted to have that as our main drive,” Bogner said.

Penn State will turn the page and tighten any loose screws before hopping on the bus to Virginia next week. Being crowned champions of the EIVA Tournament was always a goal for the Nittany Lions, but this year, there are bigger goals on the other side of the mountain.

Second-team all-EIVA honoree Brett Wildman discussed the team’s mindset after beating Princeton and moving toward the NCAA Tournament.

“I think we kind of already talked about it in our locker room right after…it’s enjoying it for the rest of tonight and tomorrow and then as soon as we get on in the gym on Monday it is kind of heads forward, onto the NCAAs,” Wildman said.

The last goal is three matches away from coming to fruition for this year’s Nittany Lions. With the light at the end of the tunnel growing brighter, some of the players can already start to imagine lifting the championship trophy.

Team captain Bogner is one of those individuals planning to cap off his Penn State career in championship fashion. When he was asked what he was most looking forward to at the tournament, his answer was straightforward. The goal is simple. The task is difficult.

“Winning the national championship,” Bogner said.