UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State men’s volleyball team debuts in the 2012 AVCA Division I-II Preseason Coaches Poll at No. 7. The Nittany Lions face eight teams in 2012 that are ranked in this year’s preseason poll.
Penn State opens the season against No. 8 Ohio State on Jan. 14 in Columbus before traveling to No. 10 Loyola-Chicago and No. 13 Lewis on Jan. 20-21. The Nittany Lions remain on the road traveling back to Ohio State for the Ken and Dave Dunlap Invitational. The Lions will challenge No. 4 Stanford on Jan. 27 and No. 15 Pacific on Jan. 28. Penn State faces the Buckeyes a second time on March 3 prior to traveling to No. 9 Pepperdine and No. 5 USC on March 8-9. The Nittany Lions’ final road trip of the season will be to No. 1 BYU for back-to-back matches on April 13-14.
After opening the season with five consecutive road matches, Penn State returns home to host Mount Olive and Cal-Baptist on Feb. 3-4 and Rutgers-Newark and NJIT on Feb. 10-11. The Nittany Lions hit the road for matches at Harvard and Sacred Heart on Feb. 17-18 and host EIVA foes Princeton and George Mason on Feb. 24-25. Following the March 3 match with Ohio State, Penn State is on the road for seven matches to close out the month of March. Penn State welcomes Sacred Heart and Harvard to Rec Hall on April 6-7 and hosts Saint Francis in its final regular season home match on April 21.
Penn State, which closed out 2011 ranked fifth in the nation, returns 13 letterwinners and six starters from the 2011 squad that made its 13th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament . The Nittany Lions also welcome the addition of four newcomers for the 2012 season.