The men's volleyball team came up short in its quest for a first tournament championship at the Fort Wayne National Bank/Pepsi Invitational.

No. 7 Southern Cal (5-2) dropped the No. 8 Lions (6-2) in the championship match Saturday night, 15-4, 15-8, 2-15, 15-13.

It is the second week in a row that Penn State finished runner-up. Last weekend the Lions lost to No. 5 Ball State in the finals of the Mizuno/Nittany Lion Invitational.

The Lions reached the championship by defeating host Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne, 15-13, 15-13, 15-11, Friday night. USC defeated Ohio State in four games in its semifinal match.

Penn State came back from a 9-1 deficit in the third game to win.

"I think we finally wore them down," Coach Tom Peterson said. "They started to make some critical mistakes and hit a lot of balls out."

In the championship match, the Lions had an opportunity to take USC to a fifth and deciding game. Penn State was serving up 12-7, but the Trojans forced a side-out and eventually took the match.

"Tonight we just couldn't get it all together," Peterson said.

"Our team was hot and cold," right-side hitter Guillo Silva agreed. "We had a chance to even the match up in the fourth game. We were winning . . . but it just didn't happen."

Silva had 23 kills and five blocks against USC and was named to the all-tournament team for the second straight weekend.

Freshman Tito Nunez also earned all-tournament honors and solidified his position as the Lions' starting middle-blocker with 10 kills and four blocks.

Despite the setback, the Lions improved over last weekend's performance -- especially defensively.

"Our blocking got a lot stronger from last weekend," assistant coach Mark Pavlick said. "In the fourth game there was a point where they took four or five swings and Guillo and Todd (Shirley) really clamped down."

"I think our blocking really came together," Silva agreed. "We did some things that really created some problems. Defensively we played solid in both matches."

In Saturday's consolation match IPFW defeated Ohio State in four games to take third place.

Penn State faces No. 6 Pepperdine twice next weekend. The Lions and the Waves meet next Friday at Rec Hall and Saturday at Conestoga Valley High School.