PRINCETON, N.J. – For most of the 2025 season, any thoughts of trophies and a memorable postseason looked very much in doubt for Penn State.
The way the Nittany Lions have played through the month of April, and especially during three matches over four days in the EIVA Championship Tournament, it now looks like anything is possible.
“I just was something that I had kind of hoped we would see this maybe at the end of March, but I’ll take it today,” said coach Mark Pavlik, whose team earned three 3-0 victories in the tournament, the last of which was a 25-20, 27-25, 25-19 sweep in the championship match April 26 against the host and top-seeded Princeton in the Tigers’ Dillon Gym.
It is the 37 th conference title in program history and third straight, and 26th during Pavlik’s tenure, earning an automatic bid into the NCAA’s National Collegiate Championship tournament. The draw for the field will be announced on NCAA.com at 4 p.m. April 27. The tournament’s opening-round match will be played May 2. Ohio State will host the national championship, starting with the quarterfinals May 8 through to the finals May 12.
The Nittany Lions played with confidence, with an offense led by Matthew Luoma’s 18 kills and a defense that bottled up the Tigers’ biggest weapon, Nyherowo Omene. The senior pin hitter had gashed the Lions for 19 kills a week earlier during the final weekend of the regular season, and rocked in 28 kills on .457 hitting in a win against George Mason in the April 24 semifinals.
All-Tournament Team
Penn State setter Michael Schwob was named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Penn State’s Luoma, Will Kuhns and Ryan Merk; Princeton’s Omene and Henry Wedbush; and George Mason’s Liam French.
Match notes
Penn State seized control of the early stages of the match, surging to a 14-6 first-set lead fueled by six Luoma kills and three blocks by the defense. Princeton fought back on the strength of kills from Omene, Rice and Mellon, three blocks and aces from Wedbush and Mellon. They crawled as close at 16-15 but the Tigers never led in the set and Luoma’s seventh kill locked up the frame.
The largest lead for either team was three points in a much tighter second set that saw 13 ties and six lead changes. The Tigers never had a lead when the teams reached the 20-point mark, however, and denied three Lion set points before a Gaige Gabriel kill wrapped up the set.
Penn State rolled early in the third set and never gave Princeton a chance to rally. The Nittany Lions ran off six straight points for a 10-4 lead thanks to three kills for Gabriel, one from Luoma and two Michael Schwob aces. Princeton worked the margin back to 11-7, but another 5-1 run put the Lions firmly in command. Luoma knocked down kills on each of Penn State’s final three points to bring on the celebration.
Penn State opened the season 0-7, matching 1999 for the worst start to a season in program history and was 6-14 at the end of March. The Nittany Lions posted an 8-1 record in April.
Penn State hosted Princeton to end the regular season April 18-19. The Tigers won the first match, which sealed their outright EIVA regular-season title, by fighting back from a 15-10 deficit in the first set and a 21-16 disadvantage in the fourth of their 3-1 victory.
The Nittany Lions now hold a 69-10 all-time record against the Tigers, 16-3 in EIVA tournament matches and 6-1 in championship match meetings.
Stat leaders
Penn State hit 45-16-100 .290 with five aces, 34 digs and eight blocks.
Luoma (PSU) had 18 kills on .256 hitting with one ace, one assist, seven digs and two blocks.
Kuhns (PSU) had nine kills, four digs and three blocks.
Gaige Gabriel (PSU) hit 8-0-12 .667 with five blocks.
Schwob (PSU) had 35 assists, two kills, three aces, two digs and two blocks.
Merk (PSU) had 12 digs and two assists.
Princeton hit 32-18-88 .159 with seven aces, 28 digs and 6.5 blocks.
Omene (PRIN) hit 13-11-38 .053 with three aces, five digs and two blocks.
Mason Rice (PRIN) hit 7-1-17 .353 with three digs and a block.
Owen Mellon (PRIN) hit 7-1-19 .316 with one ace, one assist, one solo block and two digs.
Wedbush (PRIN) had 26 assists, one kill, two aces, six digs and three blocks, one solo.
Roan Alviar (PRIN) had nine digs and one assist.
Postgame comments
Penn State full postgame session
Coach Mark Pavlik
“I don’t think we talked about that (losing leads in two sets to Princeton last weekend) at all. It was, ‘just play.’ I’ve always been a big believer in what’s done is done, what’s in front of you is what’s important. We really didn’t, even through the week we didn’t talk about last week.”
Libero Ryan Merk
“I think Omene’s a handful, we knew that coming in. Our coaches gave us a great scouting report … and we knew that he was going to get a load of balls. We had to basically force him down the line, and our blockers, Owen, and our outside blockers did a great job of getting touches on every single ball, it felt like, and slowing the ball down for us in the back row to make easy digs.”
Setter Michael Schwob
“Tonight we scrapped hard, and that’s what I felt was kind of the turning point, especially in the first set when we’re keeping balls off the floor and we’re putting them back.”
Princeton full postgame session
Coach Sam Shweisky
“They played tremendously tonight. We did not get cooking the way we do. A lot of that is a testament to them. They played great defense, Luoma played great … they had a really strong blocking defense set up. And it was a bummer. That second set, I think, had that gone a different way it’s a different match.”
Setter Henry Wedbush
“They (PSU) just ran away with it. They went up by four or five points and it felt really difficult to score. They played great defense. On our half, just trying fire the guys up, tell them to keep swinging, ‘They can’t possibly keep digging this many balls.’ They did.”