The men's volleyball team knows it cannot repeat the near-perfect performances it put forth the last time it played George Mason and Navy. But it still hopes the overall results will be the same.

When the Patriots and Midshipmen traveled to Rec Hall in mid-March, they were greeted by the two best matches Penn State has played all season. In sweeping both matches, the Lions totalled 104 kills and a .386 hitting percentage. But they know that achievement will be difficult to repeat.

"It was a definite psychological advantage that we beat them 3-0 last time," co-captain Mike Schall said. "Both of them would really like to take us on their home court -- it would make their seasons."

The Lions travel down to Fairfax, Va., to take on the Patriots today and then will hop over to Annapolis to do battle with the Midshipmen tomorrow. Both matches are scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

The No. 12 Lions (14-3 overall, 6-0 in the EIVA) must finish their season strongly if they hope to contend for any postseason honors. After these two matches and two the following weekend at Princeton and East Stroudsburg, the EIVA tournament begins, with the Lions hosting a first-round match.

"We want to peak at the end of the year here," Coach Tom Peterson said, "and we need to get better in the last few weeks."

The women's track team will compete in its first scored meet of the season at Virginia tomorrow.

The two previous meets this spring have not been scored, which makes the Lady Lions anxious.

"It makes it more competitive," Dawn Eidson said. "You feel like you have to work a little bit harder so you can get enough points to come out ahead of the other teams."

Lady Lion Kelli Hunt said because people will be thinking of helping the team score, it "promotes better performances."

Penn State will be facing quality competition from Rutgers, Cornell, Kent State and Virginia Commonwealth, along with the home team.

"Just having somebody good run or throw by you just brings out the best in you," Hunt said.

With the competitive nature in a scoring meet, some good opponents and a little luck from Mother Nature (a warm weekend in Virginia) . . .

"We might have some more national qualifiers," Eidson said.

Women's Tennis Coach Sue Whiteside must have had April 10 marked on her calendar for weeks.

A visit by Purdue at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Penn State Tennis Club could not have come at a better time.

This season has been a struggle for the Lady Lions (1-6, 0-4 Big Ten). But they will be looking to repeat last year's performance against the Boilermakers, when they went to West Lafayette and escaped with their first -- and only -- Big Ten victory ever.

And it was obvious at the beginning of the season which match Whiteside was looking to.

"We lost to everyone last year except for Purdue," she said. "Purdue was our big win. But this is a new season and anything can happen."

On Sunday, Penn State's Tammy Okins-Nguyen will need to be at her best against Illinois.

Okins-Nguyen, the No. 1 doubles and singles player, will likely face Illinois' Lindsey Nimmo twice, in singles and doubles, starting at 9:30 a.m.

Nimmo is currently the No. 15 singles player in the country and she teams with Lissa Kimmel on the country's No. 30 doubles team.

After two weeks of only hitting balls, the women's golf team is restless and ready for the challenge of playing at the Ohio State Invitational this weekend.

The competition will include host Ohio State and most other Big Ten schools. In addition, the golfers will face the challenging Scarlet Course, which is longer and more difficult than other courses the team has played.

These two factors have left Coach Denise St. Pierre questioning what will happen.

"I'm not certain what to expect. It's going to be tough because we haven't played golf in two weeks," she said.

Penn State is at a disadvantage because it has not been able to practice on the Blue Course this spring. That will make the practice round even more important, St. Pierre said.

This weekend will help Penn State judge its position in the conference.

"I'm glad these schools are going to be here because it gives us a more concrete idea about what our situation in the Big Ten is," junior Pam Nicholson said.

A meeting of champions has been summoned.

The men's track team will clash with some of the top-notch talent in collegiate track and field tomorrow at the Hot Springs Invitational in Hot Springs, Ark.

Defending national champion Arkansas will host several national powerhouses including Mississippi, Villanova and Big Eight champion Iowa State.

"This is a step up to major league competition," Coach Harry Groves said. "There are not many opportunities to bring these schools together."

Last year's winner, Southern Illinois, will also be on hand and could rack up some field points as it did last year.

Groves said tomorrow's meet is well-rounded with prestigious schools representing many of the major conferences. Every event will be an elite event with a national size, Groves said.

Ohio State, the Big Ten champion, and Oklahoma State round out the elite field of eight, but co-captain Andy Scott said Penn State will show it is also a national contender.

"We want to go down and show them we're one of the better teams in the nation," Scott said.

The men's tennis team (7-2, 0-2 in the Big Ten) will hit the road to square off against Illinois and Purdue this weekend.

Penn State has just completed a 4-1 home stand, including a 7-0 win over Bloomsburg on Wednesday. This will be the team's first taste of Big Ten action on the road this season.

Coach Jan Bortner expects both matches to be very close and competitive. He said this will be a good test to see if the team can respond on the road.

Purdue defeated Illinois handily earlier in the season. Because of this result, Bortner said the Boilermakers should be the tougher team. But he stressed that all of the Big Ten teams are outstanding and cannot be taken lightly.

The men's golf team will face quality Big Ten and Mid American Conference teams this weekend as they pull together for the Marshall Invitational, April 9-10, in Huntington, West Virginia.

Coach Greg Nye will face his alma mater, Bowling Green, in addition to massive Division IV golf forces Kent State, Ohio State and Miami of Ohio.

The men will play a grueling 36 holes of golf on Friday, a feat that Nye expects will test the patience and conditioning of his five man traveling team.

"I don't know of any other game that requires nine hours to play," said Nye.

Nye said the course should be a duplicate of the one they played last week at the Loyola Invitational, adding that the condition of the course should be improved. Senior Jason Tyska said the team has been practicing their short game -- chipping and putting, in addition to hitting long balls.

"As long as we go out there and do our best -- we'll be alright," said Tyska.