Guillo Silva had 16 kills and Jorge Perez added 12 as the men's volleyball team pounded East Stroudsburg on Friday night in Rec Hall, 15-6, 15-8, 15-4.

With the win, the Lions are now 13-9 overall and 3-1 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. The Warriors dropped to 9-7 and 0-4 in the EIVA.

"The bottom line is we won," Coach Tom Peterson said. "They're a scrappy team. That's probably one of the first teams we've played that's not as tall as us or taller than us."

"I don't know if we'd ever beat Penn State this year," Warriors' coach Bob Sweeney said. "I think Penn State has a fine team. Guillermo (Silva) is one of the finest players in the country right now."

In addition to his game-high 16 kills, Silva finished with five digs, two solo blocks and a service ace.

Penn State rolled out to a 4-0 lead in the first game on a kill by middle blocker Winfield Evens. But it was Perez who led the Lions offensively in the first game, compiling eight of his 12 kills.

"Jorge's been hitting really well," assistant coach Bob Titzer said. "He's been getting more and more sets the last several matches, so I would say he's becoming more of a key to our offense."

"I just think I started off hot and (setter Jim Schall) kept coming to me," Perez said.

The Lions capped their 15-6 victory in the first game when a Perez serve was returned out of bounds.

In the second game, Penn State rushed out to an 11-3 lead before middle blocker Neil Day led a mini-run by East Stroudsburg and cut the lead to 13-8. But the Lions finished off the Warriors with a Silva block and a dink by John Wasielewski, who finished with eight kills and five digs.

Overall, Penn State outdigged East Stroudsburg, 38-11, and Sweeney was impressed with the Lions' defense.

"Penn State could be the best back-row defensive team in the East," he said. "What we got by their block, somebody was there to dig. They're very quick defenders in the back row."

With the Lions leading 7-3 in game three, Charlie Bertran made a fantastic dig and the Warriors hit the ball into the net to give Penn State an 8-3 lead. But Bertran hurt his back on the play and had to be replaced by Michael Schall.

"Ever since California, I've been having back problems," Bertran said. "When I dove . . . my back just snapped again. I felt it, so I didn't want to keep going."

He added that he'll see the trainer and it's about 50-50 as to whether he can practice this week.

Even without Bertran, Penn State was barely tested in the rest of the third game, winning 15-4.

It was the final home match of the season for No. 11 Penn State, which now has two weeks off before key EIVA matches at Navy and No. 16 George Mason on March 23 and 24.

"I think that's going to be really to our advantage," Perez said of the two-week break. "A lot of guys on the team are tired. We've had a really tough month. We're going to come out really strong after that break."