Perhaps it's only appropriate that the men's volleyball team, which has been stressing blocking all season, will take on the best blocking team in the nation tonight.

The No. 8 Lions (6-1) will face No. 3 UCLA (3-1) in at 7:30 in Buffalo, N.Y. From there they and the Bruins will travel to Elizabethtown College in Lancaster county for a tournament with No. 14 George Mason and Canadian power Manitoba tomorrow and Saturday.

Buffalo was chosen as the locale for tonight's match in order to give setter Scott Miller and outside hitter Byron Schneider a homecoming of sorts. Both hail from New York. In addition, UCLA starter Rich Bland calls Buffalo home.

The Lions are coming off a championship performance in last weekend's Nittany Lion Invitational, including two victories over No. 10 Ball State and one over George Mason.

"The farthest thing from (the team's) mind is how we played this weekend," assistant coach Mark Pavlik said.

For the Bruins, blocking is the name of the game. As a team, it averages 4.4 blocks per game to their opponent's 3.37. Top hitter Tim Kelly averages 1.66 blocks per game, in addition to 4.26 kills per game and a .433 hitting percentage.

Although their opponents have averaged more kills, the Bruins have held opponents to a .288 hitting percentage while managing a .352 mark themselves.

UCLA coach Al Scates' team boasts incredible height and depth, including 6'7" setter Mike Sealy.

"Yeah, they're big," Pavlik said. "We can't be real predictable on offense."

"We are smaller, but a lot quicker swinging our hitters around," middle blocker David Muir added.

Pavlik stressed the importance of precision offense against the Bruins. If the Lions can get their blockers to move sideways along the net as opposed to jumping parallel to the net, he said, their offense will be more successful.

"If they know where we are going to set, they are going to have two or three blockers on us," Pavlik said.

He also noted sharp passing, like that in the Invitational, could be the spark to igniting the Lions' potent offense.

"Now it's just a matter of getting the swings," Pavlik said.

Penn State jumped from No. 10 to No. 8 in this week's coaches poll after last weekend's triumph.

USC, which handed the Lions their only loss on Jan. 25, captured all 16 first place votes and remained No. 1.

"I don't pay a whole lot of attention to those polls," Pavlik said. "That (poll) and two bucks will get you a glass of milk and two grilled stickies at the Diner."

Ball State, which the Lions defeated twice last weekend, dropped one spot to No. 10. Eastern foes George Mason and Rutgers-Newark were ranked 14th and 16th, respectively.

Other ranked Penn State opponents include No. 5 Cal-St. Northridge, No. 7 San Diego St., No. 13 Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne, No. 15 Ohio St., No. 18 Navy and Brigham Young, ranked No. 19 despite an 0-11 record.