California . . . the beaches, the sun, Hollywood, and home of the toughest collegiate volleyball competition in the United States.

The jet-set volleyball team left yesterday morning on their annual trip to the West Coast. Arriving yesterday afternoon, they have one night of fun before it's down to business.

The team's spring break will be one of fierce competition and a chance to pull itself out of its self-described slump.

"Maybe we need a tour like this that's exciting," co-captain Robert Pierce said after the team's narrow victory over a weaker Rutgers-Newark team. "People will be pumped up to play with the big arenas and big crowds."

The Lions start their tour at Long Beach State tonight. They continue to Santa Barbara to meet UCSB on Feb. 27. The Lions battle San Diego State Mar. 1, and then it's on to UCLA to compete in the UCLA/Reebok Classic. Also competing in the tourney will be defending national champions USC, ranked first in the nation.

"Competition is really good," senior Chris Chase said. "UCLA and USC are really tough teams. Playing them in one week is going to be demanding and challenging."

If the team takes its recent slump to California, it's going to be a long break. But the attitude of the team is extremely positive at the moment.

"I think it's going to be a real good trip," Jorge Perez said. "We have had real intense practices this week. It was especially noticeable today. Everyone was intense and I think our attitude problems were fixed after the meeting at Navy."

To sum up the volleyball teams recent problems: A loss at Ball State put the team into what Chase called a slump. Last Friday the Lions barely eluded a loss to Rutgers. After the match the team had a meeting and players pointed to problems such as lack of communication, lack of commitment in practice and a negative general attitude. The next day the team dropped a match to rival George Mason -- a team they previously had beaten twice this season. On Sunday the team lost a game in their victory against a far inferior Navy squad. Chase said the team played "absolutely terrible."

The team held another meeting after the Navy match. Although the players have kept mum on specifics of the meeting, Chase said things got a little hostile with people getting what was on their minds in the open.

"After we lost one game to Navy no one seemed to care, and that made me angry," the usually laid-back Chase said. "I can't repeat what I said in the meeting because a lot of it was profanity."

The meeting and the challenge of the California trip has turned the Lions 180 degrees, players said.

"We know we're going against tough competition and we're psyched," Perez said.

"We're definitely making an effort," Guillo Silva said. "We played great defense today. The tour is a good chance to meet top caliber teams."

The team doesn't plan to be prisoned on the court 24 hours a day, however. Leisure time activities include a trip to Disneyland and a possible tour of Universal Studios. Some of the older players are making a trip to Tijuana.

"That's what we're going there for," Chase joked.