If the men's volleyball team hopes to overtake Rutgers-Newark and capture first place in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, it must win every remaining league match this season.

Penn State (13-9, 3-1 in the EIVA) plays tonight at Navy and tomorrow night at George Mason. The Lions need to win both matches to keep pace with Rutgers-Newark, which is 6-1 in the EIVA.

"We know we have to win everything left to win the EIVA," outside hitter Charlie Bertran said.

This weekend's matches will be the Lions' first action since March 9, when they walloped East Stroudsburg in their final 1990 home appearance.

Penn State has had success against both the Midshipmen and the Patriots this season, beating each team twice. All four of those matches, however, were played within the comfortable confines of Rec Hall.

Tonight's match at Navy should be easy for Penn State. The Lions are 12-0 against the Midshipmen since the two teams began playing each other in 1985. And Navy is struggling this season, with a 9-22 overall record and a 1-4 mark in the EIVA.

Navy, however, is playing improved volleyball as of late. The team was distracted earlier in the season by a few disciplinary problems which have since been dealt with.

"I'm concerned that we may have a tendency to overlook them," Coach Tom Peterson said. "They're going to play a lot better there than they did here."

Penn State defeated the Midshipmen in four games in the round-robin portion of the Mizuno/Nittany Lion Invitational. And on Feb. 19, the Lions crushed Navy, 15-2, 15-10, 15-5. In that match, the Midshipmen were led by freshman outside hitter D. George Beiter, who compiled nine kills, seven digs and two blocks.

For George Mason (16-14, 4-2 in the EIVA) tomorrow's match is a must win if it is to remain in the race for the EIVA regular season championship.

Penn State has fared well this season against its traditional arch rival. The Lions beat the Patriots in five games in the semifinals of the Mizuno/Nittany Lion Invitational and swept them in an EIVA match on Feb. 14.

"Mason will be real fired up to play us in front of their home crowd," assistant coach Mark Pavlik said. "They'll want to prove that they're a better team than the one we swept a few weeks ago."

George Mason has played well at home this season, posting a 5-0 mark, which includes a victory over Rutgers-Newark. But the Patriots have been struggling recently, going just 3-6 in their last nine matches.

To make things worse, George Mason will be without outside hitter Robbie Bailey, who has a broken foot. Bailey, a junior, is among the nation's leaders in kills per game, (4.55, ranked 17th) and digs per game (2.18, 11th).

Bailey's absence would appear to give Penn State a better shot at coming away with a victory, but Peterson was worried it might have the opposite effect.

"It may get the other guys (on George Mason) to play at a higher level," Peterson said.

"Mason is always tough at home," Bertran said. "Just because Robbie's not playing, I'm not looking at them as a weaker team."

Bertran's playing status has been in question since he hurt his back on the team's trip to California. He had to come out of the March 9 match against East Stroudsburg when he re-aggravated his back while making a dig.

Bertran has been practicing with the team for the past few days and Peterson has given him the OK to play.

"My back's really good," Bertran said. "I'm practicing 100 percent in practice and I'm ready to play."

Bertran, a junior, is among the team leaders in digs per game (2.56, 1st), kills per game (4.52, 2nd) and attack percentage (.337, 4th).

Tomorrow's match will be Penn State's first at George Mason this season. And if the Lions are successful they will return to Fairfax, Va., for the EIVA and NCAA championships.

"It would be nice to get to play down there a couple more times," Peterson said.

Notes: Penn State has dropped a spot to No. 12 in this week's AVCA Tachikara Coaches' Poll despite the fact that it did not play last week. George Mason is ranked 16th and Navy is unranked. . . . The Lions will be hoping for short matches this weekend.