Queue “On the Road Again,” by Willie Nelson, folks.

Penn State men’s volleyball will spend spring break back on the road, again. Since the start of the season on January 10, the Nittany Lions have played just two home matches.

This time, they head to Phoenix, Arizona, to face No. 15 Grand Canyon for two matches. Then, the Nittany Lions head to Hawaii for the Outrigger Invitational where they’ll face No. 5 USC, No. 3 Hawaii, and No. 12 Ball State.

It’s a challenging stretch, but it’s not anything Penn State is unfamiliar with.

“I think a lot of what we went through in January will play a big role in [this stretch],” head coach Mark Pavlik said. “The been there, done that. We know what’s going to be coming at us, and that’s what’s making this trip, for me, very interesting.”

The Nittany Lions started the season by facing No. 12 Loyola Chicago, No. 14 Lewis, No. 1 and No. 3 UCLA, No. 6 USC, and No. 11 Standford twice. Penn State lost each match on its 0-7 start to the season. However, the Nittany Lions have won four of their last five outings and are ranked No. 19 in the nation with a record of 5-8.

This year’s team is younger and more inexperienced than in years past. Penn State returned three starters from last year’s NCAA Tournament team. Even so, it wasn’t the start Pavlik or his team wanted to start the season.

“I want to see where we’re at and how much we have improved,” Pavlik said. “I think for us, we’ve got to eliminate errors when we have a chance to score a real point.”

Errors have been an issue for Penn State this season. It has committed 16 more than its opponents, which has impacted the team’s overall hitting percentage of .237. In 2024, the Nittany Lions had 80 fewer errors than their opponents and had the 10th-best hitting percentage in the nation with .313.

“Instead of hitting the ball out of bounds and giving them a freebie for their side out, if we make them work for a side out, and we can turn 40% to 50% of those, we’ll be in pretty good shape,” Pavlik said. “If we’re turning only 20% to 30%, it’s going to be tough creating that separation when we need to.”

Penn State also may be without Matthew Luoma for this trip. Luoma suffered an ankle injury against NJIT two weeks ago, but Pavlik says he thinks Luoma will be back “sooner rather than later.” Lumoa had a slow start to the season but in his last three matches, he has 33 kills, four aces, and has hit .400.

Miller Trubey has stepped in Luoma’s absence. In two matches, the 6’11” Layola Chicago transfer has 14 kills and one ace but has struggled with errors with a .156 hitting percentage and 11 service errors.

Against Merrimack, Trubey had a 71 mph serve but had 11 total errors in the match. Pavlik said he’s working on helping Trubey develop a more consistent swing while maintaining his speed and used a golf analogy to explain the process.

“If you’re a golfer, and you can hit a ball 345 yards, you don’t practice hitting it less than 345. You practice trying to get that consistency so you can maximize it, and muscle memory, doing the same thing over and over,” Pavlik said. “I’ve got a club, there’s a ball, there’s tee, boom. As opposed to, ‘OK, I’m on the 17th. I’m up by two strokes. I’ve got to make sure…and all of a sudden you’re putting yourself into situations that may or may not occur. And I think volleyball is the same way, especially serving.”

But perhaps the most difficult part of this trip will be the travel. Along with facing four top-15 opponents, Penn State will travel nearly 10,000 miles between flying to Phoenix, then to Hawaii, and then back to Pennsylvania, all on coach. Plus, only three of the 20 players on the team are 6’3″ or shorter.

Pavlik said his players are going to be “eating their knees” and emphasized the importance of hydration and sleep.

“Your body has to adapt to the time changes because when we get to Hawaii, I guarantee at 4 a.m., I’m going to be wide awake because that’s 10 a.m. here,” Pavlik said.

The Nittany Lions will spend 10 days away from State College, three of which will be spent traveling, and five will be gamedays, leaving just two free days. Despite all the travel though, Pavlik said he and his team are looking forward to the trip.

“We’ll see what we do with it now,” Pavlik said. “There’s enough things to do in Hawaii. I’m sure they’ll have a good time, even if they just sit at the beach. Just make sure they don’t turn beet red.”