Spring Sports Update: Lacrosse Teams Gear Up For Playoffs

Men’s Volleyball (22-8)

The Mark Pavlik era came to an end with a 3-2 loss to UC Irvine in the NCAA Tournament. It was a good effort by the Nittany Lions against a tough opponent, but UC Irvine’s offense was too much to overcome.

Pavlik brought home the program’s second NCAA championship in 2008 and won 694 games in his 32 years in Happy Valley, the fourth-most wins all-time among NCAA men’s volleyball coaches. He was named the AVCA Coach of the Year in 2008 and produced Olympians Max Holt, Matt Anderson, and Aaron Russell. His run at Penn State is a bit overlooked when you consider the legendary coaching tenures we have seen throughout the athletic department, but his impact on Penn State volleyball cannot be understated. No announcement has been made yet about his successor.

Softball (33-21)

The softball team got swept by Nebraska last weekend and entered the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 11 seed. A four-home run effort from the offense helped the Nittany Lions beat Northwestern 11-5 in the first round. Penn State’s run came to an end with a 6-1 loss to UCLA yesterday in the quarterfinals.

Penn State is highly unlikely to receive an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, which unfortunately means this is the end of the season. The 2026 season was an improvement over 2025, but there is still a lot of work to do to revive this program.

Baseball (13-31)

The baseball team dropped the first two games of the series against Minnesota before rebounding with a 4-3 win in Game 3. A two-run home run by Jesse Jaconski provided the winning margin to avoid another sweep in conference play.

Penn State will face Washington this weekend in a doubleheader today (2pm and 45 minutes after Game 1) and Sunday (11am). All games are on Big Ten Plus. The Nittany Lions will then host Pitt on Tuesday (6pm).