PRINCETON, N.J. – Penn State won the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) Tournament for the 37th time in program history, taking down No. 19 Princeton 3-0 (25-20, 27-25, 25-19) in the championship match Saturday at Dillon Gymnasium. The Nittany Lions swept all three of their opponents in the tournament to improve to 14-15 and grab the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers, who won the regular season title and hosted the event as the top seed, closed the season at 15-11 overall.
Penn State will face the Daemen University Wildcats at 7 p.m. on May 2 in Amherst, New York, in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA men's volleyball championship.
Matthew Luoma led the offensive effort with 18 kills, while Ryan Merk anchored an outstanding defensive performance by Penn State with his 12 digs. The Nittany Lions held the Tigers to .159 hitting, which was well below their final season efficiency of .277.
Michael Schwob tallied 35 assists and led Penn State to .290 hitting. His bigger production came from the service line, where he recorded three aces for the fifth-consecutive match. His nine aces through three matches this week played a large role in his receiving the EIVA Tournament Most Outstanding Player award. Schwob was joined on the EIVA All-Tournament Team by Luoma, Merk and Will Kuhns.
Gaige Gabriel contributed both offensively and defensively in the win, hitting .667 with eight kills while also leading the team in blocks with five. Kuhns finished with nine kills and three blocks, Carter Dittman contributed six kills and two blocks, and Owen Rose chipped in with two kills and two blocks. Rose helped Penn State get to the championship match with great numbers through the first two wins as he hit .733 with 2.00 kills/set and 1.67 blocks/set in sweeps over Harvard and NJIT.
Saturday marked Penn State’s first EIVA Tournament win at a location other than Rec Hall since securing the title at Rutgers-Newark in 1996.
Princeton was paced by Nyherowo Omene with 13 kills, three aces, and two blocks. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by setter Henry Wedbush.