PROVO, Utah — No. 4 BYU men’s volleyball travels to Pennsylvania for matches against Penn State on Friday and Saint Francis on Saturday.
No. 4 BYU (2-0)
The Cougars are coming off of sweeps over No. 7 Ohio State and No. 14 Ball State last weekend in the Smith Fieldhouse, en route to a No. 4 national ranking this week.
Sophomore opposite hitter Gabi Garcia Fernandez was named AVCA National Player of the Week, Off the Block National Opposite of the Week and MPSF Offensive Player of the Week after recording 31 kills and four aces on a .407 hitting percentage for the weekend.
Freshman outside hitter Davide Gardini was named Off the Block National Freshman of the Week after a breakout performance against No. 7 Ohio State when he recorded 13 kills at a .417 clip.
Junior middle blocker Miki Jauhiainen anchored the defense in the opening week with seven blocks and four digs. He leads the team in blocks and ranks second in the MPSF with 1.17 blocks per set.
Penn State (1-1)
This is the 20th meeting between BYU and Penn State, with the Cougars leading the overall series 12-6. The last matchup was last season in Honolulu, Hawai’i, when the Cougars held on to win a five-set match over the Nittany Lions.
The Nittany Lions lost their opening match to Ohio State in four sets, but went on to beat North Greenville University in straight sets at home in the Rec Hall.
Penn State holds its opponents to single-digit kills with just 9.7 per set and on the other end is averaging 2.4 aces per set from the service line.
Saint Francis (3-0)
This is just the second meeting between the Cougars and the Red Flash, with the first being a 3-1 BYU victory at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California, in 2010.
The Red Flash have yet to drop a set, sweeping Emmanuel College, Daemen College and Alderson Broaddus last weekend.
Saint Francis is holding opponents to just 6.7 kills per set and average 12 kills per set themselves. The Lions are hitting at a .413 clip and average 2.2 blocks per set.