UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Four Penn State Men's Volleyball players earned All-America honors on Monday, led by graduate student John Kerr on the first team. Senior Toby Ezeonu and redshirt sophomore Ryan Merk made the second team, while redshirt sophomore Owen Rose was an honorable mention.
Kerr adds the first-team All-America honor to his EIVA Player of the Year and EIVA Tournament MVP awards all in his first season as a full-time starter for Penn State. He enters the NCAA Tournament ranked eighth in the nation in kills/set (3.94), 12th in points/set (4.47) and 12th in hitting percentage .350. The opposite hitter recorded double-digit kills 22 times, including each of the past 16 matches. He totaled a career high 31 kills twice. The second time came in just four sets in a 3-1 win over Harvard in the semifinal round of the EIVA Tournament.
Ezeonu is the nation's leader in hitting percentage at .498, giving him a career mark of .502. That would rank second in program history. The middle blocker earned All-America status for a third time, adding to his first-team award last season and his honorable-mention honor as a sophomore in 2022. He was a dominant presence on the attack with 10 matches this season of double-digit kills while hitting .500 or better. He was strong defensively with 0.84 blocks/set and also developed into one of the team's top servers with 36 aces.
Merk was an honorable-mention All-American last season before jumping up to the second team this year. The libero ranked first in the EIVA with 2.12 digs/set and helped the squad hit a league-best .317 as the team's top passer. In his first season on the court last year, Merk was given the Steve Shondell Award as the nation's top passer by Off the Block.
Rose picked up honorable-mention All-America recognition for the second-straight season. The middle blocker hit .430 while averaging 1.62 kills and 0.86 blocks/set. He tallied seven or more kills while hitting .500 or better seven times this season, including a career-high 13 while hitting .600 in a five-set win over George Mason to help Penn State clinch the EIVA regular season title. He had four or more blocks in a match 10 times.
Penn State is the fifth-seeded team and opens the NCAA Tournament against fourth-seeded UC Irvine in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. ET. The eight-team tournament will be played at Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid.
