The men's volleyball team experienced both ups and downs this weekend at the Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne Invitational. The Lions defeated Indiana-Purdue, 15-10,18-20, 11-15, 15-2, 15-11, on Friday night, but were caged by No. l USC on Saturday, 15-10, 5-15, 12-15, 9-15.

During the first game against Indiana-Purdue, the Lions played in what Coach Tom Tait called a "marathon match," lasting over two hours. The marathon started with Penn State winning a hard fought 15-10 game. The home crowd rallied behind its team, however, and Indiana-Purdue then put the the No. 8 Lions down, two games to one.

Indiana-Purdue had thoughts of an upset on its mind, but the Lions wiped those thoughts out as they fought back with a vengeance. Penn State took the fourth game, and wrapped up the match with a 15-11 win in the final game.

Indiana-Purdue is not known as a volleyball power, but Tait knew going into the tournament that playing the hosts would be difficult.

"IPFW is a good team," Tait said. "They played some really good ball with us in that game. It was a very intense game throughout."

Going into the game with USC, the Lions were nervous; however, Tait said his team was not the only one with pregame jitters.

"I thought in the beginning both teams were tight," Tait said. "But we did get our game back together in relatively short time. The second game is when we came out flat."

Penn State showed no respect for the No. 1 ranked team in the first game as the Lions won, 15-10. The smell of an upset was in the air, but that smell just made the Californians angrier, as they went on to whip the Lions, 15-5, in the second game.

"The second game they adjusted to our short serve," Tait said of the loss. "We were not as steady with our passing as we should have been. I think we could have won if we had put everything together."

The Lions tried to stay close in the third game as they clawed back, but fell short, 12-15. Penn State lost to the Trojans, 15-9, in the last game.

Tait said USC is not as strong as it was last year, but he did give credit to the Trojans' "Twin Tower," -- 6'5" two-time All American Tom Duke and 6'7" sophomore Brian Ivie.

Chris Chase had the most kills for the Lions with 23 in the two games. Meanwhile, Guillo Silva led the way in blocks with three. Senior outside hitter Robert Pierce had the most digs (12) and Charlie Bertran, who was sidelined with a strained quad muscle for about two weeks, registered 14 kills, one block and eight digs.