The leaders of two of the nation's top men's volleyball conferences faced off inside Penn State's Rec Hall on Tuesday, with No. 1 Ohio State suffering only its second defeat of the season, a five-set loss to the Nittany Lions (25-21, 14-25, 25-15, 22-25, 15-12).

With 45 digs and 10.5 team blocks, Penn State held the reigning national champion to a .214 hitting percentage. Star Buckeyes offensive contributors Miles Johnson and Nicolas Szerszen averaged just .233 and .185, respectively.

Chris Nugent was the home team's top hitter, detonating 19 kills with only two errors on 33 attempts for a match-high percentage of .515.

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Penn State's service reception played a big role in its victory, as Ohio State managed to score only seven aces, it's third-lowest ace performance of the year.

"When you hold a serving team like that to less than an ace per game, you're doing your job," Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik said.

"It's a great win, but it doesn't move us up in any standings. We will see how the team responds but we're hoping that we can use it as a springboard match for the last three weekends of the season."

The Nittany Lions (14-9) currently lead the EIVA with a 6-2 conference record. Ohio State (23-2), ranked No. 1 in this week's national rankings, and also lead the MIVA conference with a 12-0 conference record.

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Penn State plays at home against Princeton on Friday and NJIT on Saturday; Ohio State hosts McKendree for back-to-back matches on Friday and Saturday.