In their grueling five-game loss to Rutgers-Newark last night, Lions' setters Scott Miller and Jim Schall continued their season-long battle for the starting spot.

"If you could combine Jim and Scooter's abilities and package it in a 6'6" body . . . we'd let him play here," Assistant coach Mark Pavlik joked. "But that's not saying that they aren't doing the job. I think they're playing within their abilities right now and it's going to be more a of a leadership role that they have to come out and assume."

Schall started last night's match against the Raiders and compiled 29 assists and four digs in the first game, which the Lions lost 15-12. He was then replaced by Miller, who played the final four games in an attempt by the coaching staff to shake up the lineup.

"We were looking for anybody that was just going to pull the team around," Pavlik said. "It was very dead out there and we were looking at Scooter just to try to change things up. It was more of a chemistry move than anything else."

Penn State looked less than impressive in the first game, committing five net violations and making a lot of bad passes that led to missed opportunities.

"I think that he put me in to try to give the team a lift because we were playing really flat," Miller said. " It's hard to get one person to bring a team together, but that's what I tried."

Miller may have been at least a temporary spark, as the Lions blew the Raiders out in the second game, 15-1.

In that game, a Miller kill for a sideout ignited a five-point run that gave the Lions a commanding 9-0 lead and had the Raiders going to their bench early. Miller was the server during the run and one of Penn State's points came off an ace.

In addition to the ace, Miller finished the match with 12 digs and 65 assists.

But the statistics that stand out for the 5'11" junior are his five kills and two blocks. Setters, by nature, are not considered offensive threats, but Miller held his own on the court last night.

"He puts up a bigger block, and offensively . . . he's just more fluid at the net," Pavlik said. "He can handle balls that are higher. He could be an offensive threat."

"When I'm front row, I want to do some things," Miller said. "That's why I try to do a little offense, to throw the other team off. I've been practicing it, so I'm good at it, so why not use it?"

It would seem that Miller's offensive talents would give him the upper hand in the battle with Schall for playing time. But Schall does have one thing, at least in the coaches' eyes, in his favor -- his defense.

"I think defensively, Jim runs a nice offense and gets to a lot of balls," Pavlik said. "We've said it all year long, they kind of compliment each other."

The battle of the setters will continue as the Lions now take their Eastern version of volleyball out to Utah and California. Both Miller and Schall will certainly get ample opportunity to set against the top teams in the country, such as No. 4 Long Beach State and No. 6 San Diego State.