In its final warmup before the the regular season, the men's volleyball team found itself in a tougher-than-expected battle against the alumni team Saturday.

The current Lions won three out of five games against their predecessors -- who were directed by former Penn State coach Tom Tait -- 16-14, 11-15, 16-14, 15-9, 12-15.

For Coach Tom Peterson, it was a final opportunity to assess the potential weaknesses of the 1990 squad before the Mizuno-Nittany Lion Invitational, which will be held this Friday and Saturday.

"At times we played OK, but at times we made way too many errors," Peterson said. "The second game . . . we were ahead the whole game and ended with four hitting errors, so we just can't do that stuff. That hurt us."

Peterson also expressed concern over Penn State's overall play at the net.

"We've got to get quicker in the middle. There's a couple of outside blockers that need to make sure that they're read blocking, not guessing at where they're going. The men's game is at the net, and we've got to get better at blocking and hitting."

The first game was perhaps the most fiercely contested of the five. Penn State used its current starting lineup of Charlie Bertran, Jim Schall, Winfield Evens, Jorge Perez, Todd Shirley and John Wasielewski and the alumni team had most of its top players -- including Bobby Faux, Dave Bittner and Mike Gordon -- in the game.

There were nine ties, five lead changes and neither team ever established more than a three-point lead. With the score knotted at 14, there were seven sideouts in a row before co-captain Wasielewski served out the game with two points in a row.

"The first game was a barnburner," Bittner said. "It was a lot of fun to play. I think it was real intense."

"They came at us, especially in the first game," Shirley, the other co-captain, said. "That was probably the toughest competition I can remember the alumni giving us in a number of years."

In the second game, a couple of players who are battling for spots in the starting lineup -- notably setter Scott Miller and middle blocker Tito Nunez -- got a chance to prove their worth against a diverse group of alumni which featured four former All-Americans: Tom Hahn (1976), Mike Guyon and Chuck Kegerreis (1982) and Bob Palka (1985).

The 1990 Lions led most of the way and appeared to be in good shape with an 11-8 lead and control of the serve. After a sideout, however, 1988 graduate Keith Yarros served seven winners in a row to give the alumni a stunning 15-11 victory.

Penn State fielded a lineup of mostly freshmen in the third game against yet another wave of alumni which included 1979 graduates John Morgan and Carey Seavey.

Youth prevailed, but just barely, as the Lions, led by Scott Kelley and Larry Perry, rallied from a 13-7 deficit to win 16-14. Also playing well was freshman Michael Schall, brother of Jim, who saw his first extensive playing time of the afternoon after being limited to a few plays in the first two games as the Lions' defensive specialist.

The fourth game was the only one that could have been considered a "laugher" and even it had its tense moments. Penn State put its starting six back on the court and stormed out to leads of 10-2 and 14-4 before 1987 All-American Stew Russell led a mini-comeback by the alumni. It was not enough, however, as Bertran and Wasielewski each made a number of rally-stopping kills down the stretch and Penn State held on to win, 15-9.

"I think the first team, which I was playing with, played really well today," Shirley said. "We passed well and when we pass well the offense goes well."

After four relatively long and tiring games, the final game was played using the "fastscore" system in which each serve results in a point for one of the teams. The alumni squad withstood the strong play of Kevin Mosbacher and Ricky Roper and held on for their second victory, 15-12.

After the match, 1988 graduate Bittner praised the 1990 Lions and offered his analysis of the upcoming season.

"The key for them this year is going to be . . . how well Jorge (Perez) and Charlie (Bertran) pass the ball," Bittner said. "They've got some pretty heavy hitters, they've got a good setter, and it all depends on if they can get the ball to the setter so he can deal to the hitters. So, if they pass well they're going to do real well."

Notes: It was announced during the pre-game introductions that Penn State freshmen Bill Barth, Mark Blum and Byron Schneider and sophomore Craig Wilson have been red-shirted for the 1990 season . . . In the Annual Ball Pull -- a post-game tradition in which an alumnus and current varsity player both grip the ball in one hand and try to yank it from the other's hand -- 1979 graduate John Morgan successfully defended his title against freshman Tito Nunez.