UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Penn State is certainly getting familiar with dramatic victories.
For the sixth time this season, and fifth straight match, the Nittany Lions needed a full five sets to wrap up a victory.
Unlike the five previous five-setters, however, this match carried more weight and consequence for Penn State. A loss now means an end to the season.
The Nittany Lions held off Charleston 20-25, 25-19, 25-16, 22-25, 15-8 in the EIVA Championship Tournament semifinals April 23 at Rec Hall. They are headed to the conference final for a third straight year and are seeking the 38th title in program history and an automatic bid to the NCAA National Collegiate Championship.
Penn State (21-7, 12-0), which has won its last 10 matches, will face Princeton in the championship match April 25 in a rematch of the 2025 final at the Tigers’ Dillon Gym.
Charleston (14-15, 4-8) was trying to reach finals for first time in program history after Wednesday’s first-round win over Sacred Heart marked the second postseason win for the Eagles.
The match also was a battle of physicality. Serves were sometimes clocked at 70 mph, spikes were drilled into the floor or ricochetting off blocks into the bleachers, and there was plenty of trash talk to go with it all.
 
Match Notes
Charleston was solid in the first set while Penn State was mistake prone. The Eagles hit .333 while the Lions had seven errors and hit .138. Charleston closed the frame taking 10 of the final 15 points.
The Nittany Lions turned their fortunes quickly, hitting .545 in the second and firing in four aces to knot the match at 1-1.
Penn State continued the hot hitting in the third, with one error in .500 hitting. It opened with a 5-1 lead and added a five-point run not long after to take control.
Charleston took control of the fourth early, building a 12-7 lead. Penn State tried to crawl back, twice pulling to within one, but never tied it.
The Lions pushed ahead with a 6-1 burst in the fifth to lead 9-4 and the margin was never again closer than four points.
Charleston was playing a five-set match for a second straight night, also going five against Sacred Heart. The Eagles played only two five-set matches during the season, both during the first week of February.
 
Stats
Penn State 60-18-112 .375, 54 assists, 8 aces, 29 digs, 11.5 blocks
Sean Harvey 19 kills, .567 Hit%, 7 digs
Tristan Hassell 16 kills, .448 Hit%, 3 blocks
Owen Rose 10 kills, .353 Hit%, 5 blocks
Gaige Gabriel 7 kills, .583 Hit%, 2 aces
Jaxon Herr 39 assists, 3 blocks
Bennett Wilson 3 aces
Ryan Merk 7 digs
Charleston 54-24-125 .240, 50 assists, 5 aces, 28 digs, 10.5 blocks
Lucas Torres 22 kills, .385 Hit%, 3 blocks
Samuel Alo 8 kills, 4 blocks
Max Nissen 8 kills, 6 digs
Pavlin Ivanov 4 blocks
Yotam Briger 42 assists, 6 digs
Joonatan Salpakari 7 digs
 
Post-match Comments
Penn State coach Mark Pavlik
“I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve five five-gamers in a row.”
“We know that’s it’s playoff time, we know that teams are ready for this, we know that they’re physical, we know that they’re going to leave everything that they can on the floor and we have to respond to that.”
“Seriously, I have a cardiologist appointment on May 20 – if I survive that long, I’ll let you know.”
Sean Harvey
“We just kind of got that confidence that, when the set says ‘five’ and it’s 0-0, we know that we’re going to come out there and play. Only one of our five-setters during this streak has been close, so we know how we’re going to play when those big moments happen.”
Full Penn State Post-match Session
Charleston coach Robert Poole
“Hopefully you guys enjoyed that because I did. It was up, down, and I don’t know about these guys but probably one of the best performances we’ve had this season.”
“I did nothing. It doesn’t come down to me. These guys have such an ability, when they want to fight for every point and when they want to go hard, and when to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to keep pushing the boundaries of what we can do,’”
Joonatan Salpakari
“It was amazing. These are the games, the moments we live for. We all enjoyed every second of it. Obviously the loss hurts, but we can still be proud.”
Full Charleston Post-match Session