The men's volleyball team was riding a wave of confidence when it traveled to the 1988 EIVA championships. Not only were the Lions the nation's top-ranked team, but they also boasted All-Americans Javier Gaspar and Chris Chase.

George Mason had other ideas, though. It ousted the Lions in the EIVA finals and stole the Lions' Final Four bid.

"We beat them eight times in a row (in the regular season)," said senior outside hitter Jorge Perez, a freshman on that team.

Such is the stuff of great rivalries.

"We are usually the best in the East, and they are usually the second best," senior setter Scott Miller said. "It's a pretty intense rivalry."

The Lions hold a 41-10 series advantage over the Patriots since 1977, including a 4-0 record this season. Penn State is ranked fifth, and George Mason 15th. But Saturday night at Rec Hall, records and rankings were irrelevant.

Penn State won the first two games, 15-10, 15-11, but the Patriots refused to quit, capturing the third game 15-11 and jumping to a 14-9 lead in the fourth before falling 17-15.

"We know each other really well, I think that's why it was so close of a match," Miller said.

And why it is such a heated rivalry? "We just know that we are going to battle it out, and it's just that tradition," Coach Tom Peterson said.

The rivalry has intensified this season with the return to George Mason of Coach Ron Shayka, a Penn State graduate who played with assistant coach Mark Pavlik. Shayka coached the Patriots in 1986 before taking a sabbatical for three years.

"He is a great coach," Peterson said. "He knows us, we know them, and there are no surprises really that we can pull on each other."

And although the Lions may boast more talent and depth, the Patriots have utilized quickness and height to combat it.

"He has a good offensive system for what he has," Peterson said. "You look at Mason and they have some big guys in the middle that are reaching over the net at the end of the game blocking us."

Perhaps that is why the Lions are so worried as this season's EIVA championships approach.

"They are going to be tough at Easterns, and I think everybody is aware of that. And everybody is going to work hard in April," Perez said.

"If they play that well, I think that we will probably meet them in the finals of Easterns," Peterson said. "I'll take the same results."