The men's volleyball team continued to ride its wave of emotion and last night in Rec Hall the wave crushed them.

No. 15 Rutgers-Newark handed the No. 11 Lions their first Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association loss of the season, 15-12, 1-15, 13-15, 15-8, 15-12. It was only the third time in 35 matches that Penn State has lost in the EIVA, which was formed in 1986.

The Raiders moved their record to 13-9, while the Lions dropped to 9-6.

Penn State's nemesis was its emotional ups and downs which had troubled it earlier this season.

"We just went back to the way we played earlier in the season," outside hitter Jorge Perez said. "We can't be down and let them jump all over us and then try to come back at the end."

The Lions came out flat in the opening game. Bad passing helped Rutgers-Newark build an early 6-1 lead. Penn State was then awakened by the play of outside hitters Guillo Silva and Charlie Bertran, who had three and two kills respectively, in a nine-point run. The Raiders bounced back to retake the lead, 13-12, on middle blocker Mario Popantoniou's block of Silva. A violation on the Lions' Silva gave the raiders game point.

The Lions held off six straight game points before falling, 15-12, on middle hitter Max Jeanty's kill. Poor Rutgers-Newark play enabled the Penn State to coast to a game-two victory. The Lions led 11-0 before the Raiders got a point. It would be R-N's only point in an 15-1 rout.

Game three was tight early until the Raiders pulled out to a 10-6 lead. Penn State forced a side out with Rutgers-Newark leading, 13-9. Two Silva kills and two Raider kill attempts landed out, helping the Lions back into the game. A Scott Miller block and a Perez kill finished Penn State's six-point game-winning run.

The Lions seemed ready to put the match away after coming back strong to win game three and take a 2-1 lead. That would not happen though.

"We did things OK and they played poorly in that second game," Assistant coach Mark Pavlik said. "We never really carried that over . . . We had them down and we just never jumped on them.

The two teams were tied 7-7 midway through game four. From that point on the Lions went on a scoring drought as the Raiders pulled away 15-8.

Game five was scored by "quick score" where points are awarded on side outs. With the game tied 6-6 Kevin Mosbacher was called for a lift giving R-N its first lead. The Raiders never trailed again and completed the upset.

"I was really happy with the way we played at the end of the third and fourth game," Rutgers-Newark Coach Bob Bertucci said. "One of the reasons we were able to come back was that Penn State seemed to lose it's composure . . . we came out towards the end of the match and were aggressive."

Coach Tom Peterson was not happy with the Lions effort.

"Nothing good came out of this match," he said. "Rutgers (Newark) didn't play well and we were pitiful."

The Lions were led by Bertan (26 kills, 18 digs), Perez (26 kills, 12 digs) and Silva (24 kills, 11 digs). It was the Lions' third loss in a five-game match.

"I think that we don't play aggressive in the fifth game," setter Scott Miller said. "We don't take it to them and swing hard. We've got to still play aggressive in that fifth game."