If Stanford's men's volleyball team had known all of the detours it would have to make just to get to State College, they would have stayed home.

The No. 7 Cardinal flew across the country on Wednesday, missed their connecting flight in Newark, got bussed to Harrisburg, were snowed in at a motel in Harrisburg Wednesday night and bussed to State College yesterday afternoon. All this to get to Rec Hall for a match with the No. 6 Lions last night.

"The travel should not be a factor in the match," Stanford Coach Ruben Nieves said prior to play. "Playing in a hostile gym should be a big factor. Penn State always has a supportive and knowledgeable crowd."

The crowd of 1,150 took some time to warm up and Stanford jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead on two Cardinal kills and a Lions' error. But the Lions fought back, gaining the always-important momentum and taking the next seven points. They never trailed the rest of the night.

"There was some great emotion from both the crowd and the players," Penn State Coach Tom Peterson said. "We played very well in all aspects of the game. We passed well and there was great emotion in our total play."

Behind two quick kills from freshman Ivan Contreras, the Lions went up 12-8. However, the two teams went back and forth, trading sideouts, until Lions' setter Carlos Ortiz stuffed the Cardinal middle blocker at the net, giving the Lions their fifth game point.

Ortiz left Stanford's Joe Burghardt lying on the ground, shouting the ever-present "trash-talk" in the Cardinal's face as he went back to serve for the game. Burghardt passed the ball into the stands for one of the Lions' seven aces, giving Penn State game one, 15-13.

"The turning point was definitely the end of game one," Nieves said. "We had a couple of opportunities and Penn State just hung in there and won the very close game."

For games two and three, Stanford (0-2) played very flat and nothing like the team who had defeated No. 2 Brigham Young in an exhibition match the previous weekend. Penn State (1-0) took advantage of this sluggishness, winning the final two games, 15-4 and 15-6.

"This win was a great start for us this year," Ortiz said. "We played together as a team and everything just fell into place."

Leading the Lions were senior Ramon Hernandez and junior Ed Josefoski with 17 and 16 kills, respectively. Senior Byron Schneider led the team with 11 digs and three blocks.

The Lions and Cardinal will travel to Newton today and Elizabethtown tomorrow for their final two matches of the series. Both matches have starting times of 7 p.m.

"It is still early in the season," Peterson said. "We will have no home court advantage. It is integral that we start off the matches the same way that we did tonight."