The Penn State men’s volleyball program has enough cachet that it doesn’t rebuild. It reloads.

But, sometimes, the caliber of the ammunition is difficult to replace.

When the team walked into the gym this winter to prepare for the 2024 season, for the first time in five years, it did so without Cal Fisher, Cole Bogner and Brett Wildman. That trio formed the cornerstone of the lineup and helped Penn State reach the national semifinals last season.

Their standing on the team wasn’t merely symbolic. Bogner, a setter, ranks No. 7 all-time in program history with 4,132 assists. Fisher, a Riverview grad, accumulated more than 1,000 career kills and ranks third in program history with 195 aces. Wildman had more than 1,100 career kills and is right behind Fisher on the all-time aces list with 181.

Leadership and production. They were huge voids that were in need of filling for 30th-year coach Mark Pavlik.

“It was definitely a different feeling,” said John Kerr, a grad student opposite hitter from Derry. “The leadership aspect totally changed. They were the leaders for pretty much (all) four years of me being here. That was definitely a different feel knowing I had to step up. … It was a big challenge.”

Kerr is one of the players trying to pick up the slack for the Nittany Lions, who went into the weekend at 6-2, having just beaten newly minted No. 1 Ohio State in back-to-back matches (home and away) Jan. 25 and 28. Count Hempfield grad Will Kuhns in that group, too.

A senior outside hitter, Kuhns has seen mostly spot duty in his three previous years. But he has become a more frequent match participant this season.

His 1.04 kills per set is more than double his personal best from the previous two seasons.

“Yeah, Fish, Brett and those guys were our guys last year, but we’re comfortable in ourselves that we have a bunch of guys coming back who played against them and competed against them every day in the gym,” Kuhns said. “It’s just a matter of coming into our own skin as a new team. I feel very confident that we have the pieces we need.”

Kerr and Kuhns have shown they can deliver when called upon. Last season, while filling in for an injured Fisher, Kerr (6-foot-6) earned American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Week honors with 35 combined kills over two matches — against the Nos. 5 and 8 teams in the nation — at the First Point Collegiate Challenge in Austin, Texas.

This season, in a five-set win over No. 16 Lewis, Kerr had a personal-best 31 kills and again earned AVCA National Player of the Week. He had 25 of those kills across the third and fourth sets. In the Jan. 25 win over Ohio State, he had 12 kills.

Kuhns (6-3) was summoned Jan. 20 when the offense needed a spark against then-No. 1 and reigning national champion UCLA, again at the First Point Collegiate Challenge. Kuhns responded with a personal-best nine kills and only three attack errors on 15 swings. He had four kills in the Jan. 28 win over the Buckeyes.

Pavlik said the current group still needs to find itself and develop consistency.

“Everybody outside of (freshman setter Michael) Schwob has been on the court for us,” said Pavlik, like Kerr a Derry grad. “They’ve been on the court with Fish and Wildman who finished their careers as the No. 3 and 4 ace leaders for us. So there were plenty of easy points racked up last year. This group has to understand we don’t have that anymore. We have to grind out our points.

“The guys who have been on the court have been saying, ‘As long as I don’t screw up, (we have) Fish, Cole, Brett. We’re going to be fine.’ They ain’t here anymore.”

Having a new setter is perhaps the biggest adjustment. Besides Kerr and Kuhns, hitters such as senior outsides Michal Kowal and Michael Valenzi and middles Toby Ezeonu (senior) and Owen Rose (junior) have plenty of in-game seasoning.

It will take time for Schwob to develop the necessary chemistry with his hitters. But there’s no panic in the Nittany Lions — “It’s only January,” as Ezeonu noted during the First Point event — and they are pleased with the job Schwob has done filling such big shoes.

“Everybody runs a different kind of ball,” Kerr said. “It was definitely a challenge at first. Schwob has been stepping up and growing very well for us.”

Added Kuhns: “We know we’re going to make strides throughout the year. What we’ve been talking about lately is progress over the outcome. It’s going to take a little bit of time, naturally, for Schwob to have a connection with the different guys. … It’s exciting to know we have room for growth.”

Kerr and Kuhns will do their best to help foster that growth. The regular season still has two months to go, and the Nittany Lions don’t open Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association play until Feb. 16, so there is plenty of time to iron out the kinks.

Fisher, Bogner and Wildman might be gone, but the veteran holdovers have tried to lead in a similar fashion.

“I think those guys were always really kind of level-headed in how they went about their business,” Kuhns said. “I remember hearing from the older guys that you don’t have to be perfect all the time. … It’s OK. Embrace the failures. It’s OK not to be the best every once in a while.”

The end game, of course, is to get back to the top of the EIVA — since 1991, minus the pandemic year, Penn State has won all but five EIVA tournament titles — and the NCAA Tournament. With the addition of new men’s volleyball conferences over the past couple of seasons, the NCAA tourney has expanded to eight teams, and Penn State aims to be one of them.

With a new group making its mark.

“I think we have a really high potential,” Kerr said. “I think when our outsides really start connecting, I think we’re going to be a dangerous team.”

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