It hasn’t always been pretty for Penn State men’s volleyball this season. After making it to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament last season, this year’s squad hasn’t been as dominant as in years past.

Penn State lost to No. 8 Stanford, No. 12 USC, No. 2 Long Beach State, both No. 1 and No. 4 UCLA, and unranked Purdue Fort Wayne. However, it has beaten No. 16 CSUN, No. 15 Ball State, and No. 16 Lewis, and it swept No. 15 Princeton and No. 1 Ohio State.

Last season, the Nittany Lions swept 15 of its 31 opponents, compared to sweeping only six of its 21 opponents this season. All of that is to say, this year’s squad has a more gritty way of winning matches this go around. Because of that, head coach Mark Pavlik has said many times this team plays “where their feet are.”

“I think every match, it is important to be that way,” Pavlik said. “It’s really easy to get into a match like this weekend and all of the sudden start looking at the scoreboard and make value judgments.”

Pavlik has stressed a “no looking ahead, no looking behind” mentality with his team. The 30-year head coach wants to simplify the game for his players rather than get ahead of themselves and overthink. This was evident this past weekend against Saint Francis.

On Saturday, Penn State was on the verge of being swept before it pulled off a reverse sweep and took control of the match after an ugly first two sets. On Sunday, Penn State dominated the first set but dropped the next two sets before forcing a fifth and winning the match to get the weekend sweep over the Red Flash.

“We’re going to get punched in the mouth a little bit,” Pavlik said. “But that’s OK. [This team is] willing to hang in there and play.”

Even in some losses this season, Penn State had that same resiliency. Against No. 4 UCLA, Penn State was in the last game of its road trip in California where it played four ranked opponents in seven days. The Nittany Lions were handled in the first set in what felt like was going to be a sweep but came back and won the next two sets convincingly until fatigue began to set in and dropped the fourth and fifth sets by less than five points.

“We just have to make sure that we’re willing to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes,” Pavlik said. “If another team is just better than us, so be it, but don’t let another team outwork us.”

That has been the team’s motto all season. This 2024 Penn State squad may not be as dominant as in the past, but they find ways to grind out wins. Even against Lewis and the second Ohio State game, the wins weren’t pretty.

It was back-and-forth the entire way against Lewis as both teams alternated set victories before Penn State ended up on top after five. Against Ohio State, it was the same thing as Saturday’s game against Saint Francis. The Nittany Lions dropped the first two sets until they took over the match in the third and fourth sets to force a fifth and complete a reverse sweep.

“I think that’s one of the strengths of this team,” Pavlik said. “There’s a resiliency about them. No matter who we play, they understand that there are going to be very competitive stretches of the match where it’s going to be give-and-take.”