Having a freshman come in and lead a team that is vying for the national championship is an extremely risky move.

But so far this season, the men's volleyball team has no reason to complain.

Freshman Carlos Ortiz jumped straight from the Puerto Rican Junior National Team to Penn State. He spent one year redshirting under Jim Schall, but now he is the starting setter for the No. 9 Lions.

"I have to be like a quarterback in football," Ortiz said. "I should be a leader on the court. While we are playing, I should keep (my teammates) in the game and focused."

Because of his youth and inexperience, Ortiz still feels that he needs improvement in this area. He says he hopes to get better before the end of the season so he can help the team achieve its main goal -- to win the national championship.

Coming into this season, the Lions had to find someone to fill the void left by Schall, who graduated in May. And Ortiz was the top choice for the job.

"He was our best setter coming into the season," senior Ricky Roper said. "I don't think it was a risky move at all. You have to start somewhere and he was our best bet."

One of the setter's main concerns on the court is staying focused. Ortiz has lost control a few times this season, but overall he has kept his composure.

"One of my problems is staying calm," Ortiz said. "When we are not playing well, I lose my concentration. I just have to work on my composure. Nobody can help me with that, but I think I can handle it most of the time."

All of the coaches have been working with Ortiz at getting his entire game together. They have continuously fed him information and he has harnessed this information into a working game plan.

"He is definitely the pivotal player on our team --he runs the whole game," Roper said. "The coaches have fed him a lot of information now and he is working through it all and applying it to the court."

The team has been practicing especially hard this week as it prepares to head out to Rutgers-Newark for a two-match tournament. The Lions take on the No. 14 Raiders today.

The Lions will play either Long Island or Ball State tomorrow, depending on the results of today's matches.

"We have been practicing a lot better this week than we have in the past," Ortiz said. "It seems like we keep getting better. I think we are going to have a very good weekend."

The Lions have been working especially hard on their consistency. Throughout the season the Lions have had trouble staying strong through the third game, but their practices have been helping them with that.

"This week, we have had the best two practices we have had all season," Roper said. "We know what Rutgers is going to be doing and we want to get them in three games. Everything is being stressed on the third game. It has been nice to see everyone working so hard."