Before the 2024 season began, Penn State’s John Kerr had started only eight matches over his five years as a Nittany Lion.
The 2024 regular season ends with Kerr being named the Uvaldo Acosta Memorial EIVA Player of the Year.
The opposite, who had never earned any All-EIVA honors previously, is the fifth straight Penn State product to earn the conference’s top individual player honor, and the 23rd in program history.
Kerr is among the conference leaders in kills per set (second, 3.75), points per set (second, 4.27) and hitting (fifth, .357). He is 11th in the nation in kills per set, 13th in hitting and 19th in points per set.
His eight previous starts came during the 2023 season, filling in for Cal Fisher. Kerr had a big impact, earning EIVA and AVCA Player of the Week awards during that time, but he had to play other roles when Fisher returned from his injury.
The product of Derry, Pa., which also was the hometown of Bob Sweeney Memorial Coach of the Year Mark Pavlik, has 24 aces this season, and is averaging 1.27 digs and 0.52 blocks per set. He has double digits in kills in 20 of 26 matches this season, topping 20 kills four times. His season best was 31 kills against Lewis in January. He closed the regular season with matches of 23 and 20 kills against George Mason to clinch the team’s regular-season title and cap a 10-0 conference record.
Kerr and the Nittany Lions host the EIVA Championship Tournament this week at Rec Hall. The event begins with first-round matches April 17. Penn State has a bye and will play in the semifinals at 7 p.m. April 18 against the winner of the NJIT-Charleston match.