Many students look forward to spring break as a time to hit the beaches, soak in the sun and party with thousands of others from around the country.

But the men's volleyball team will have only one thing on its mind come spring break -- rest.

For the next three weeks prior to the spring siesta, the team will be logging more travel miles than Don Baylor, baseball's ultimate journeyman, and appearing in more cities than espn2.

"Travel is always a disadvantage," sophomore middle blocker Kevin Hourican said. "We will have to miss some classes and make up all of the work, but I think that the team is good enough not to let this bother them."

Last weekend, the team flew to Massachusetts for the Hall of Fame tournament, which it easily won. The team then flew home on Monday and practiced for two days, only to fly to Winnipeg, Manitoba, today at 11 a.m. Manitoba is directly north of North Dakota.

"The travel will not hurt the team," Hourican said. "If we want to play good teams, we know that we are going to have to geographically travel long distances. We will have to sacrifice now, but hopefully in the long run, it will pay off."

This weekend, the No. 3 Lions (7-1) will play four matches against three highly ranked Canadian teams in the Manitoba Cup. They will take on Winnipeg (18-16, No. 8 in Canadian InterAthletic Union poll) in a rematch tomorrow night. The two competed in a preseason tournament last November, with the Lions coming away with a three-game win.

On Saturday, Penn State takes on No. 3 British Columbia and No. 2 Manitoba (35-4). Manitoba had been ranked No. 1 all season, only to be dropped into the second slot after a upset loss last week to the University of Laval, the new No. 1 team.

"It is always a little bit difficult traveling, but it is worth it because we will be playing such good, strong teams up there," Hourican said. "Manitoba has some strong players from their national team, and we are really looking forward to playing them."

Because Canadians are given five years to complete their schooling, the athletes receive five years of eligibility, which they can use at any time. Manitoba has five players on its squad who have played on the Canadian National Team.

"We will have to play our best," Coach Tom Peterson said. "We can't afford to be travel-weary. We will be a long time on the road, and we have to play to our best ability. We can't play poorly at all and expect to beat a strong team like Manitoba."

The team will then fly home on Monday, practice most of the week and fly to Newark, N.J., next Thursday for a match against New Jersey Institute of Technology. After a quick hop across town, the Lions will compete in a weekend tournament hosted by Rutgers-Newark.

The team will fly home from New Jersey on Sunday, Feb. 20, to prepare for its match against EIVA-rival George Mason on Saturday, Feb. 26, which it will bus to. The Lions will then drive home Sunday and rest for only one day before they drive out to Juniata for their final match before spring break.

"In the short run, I think we'll be OK with all the travel," said Assistant Coach Mark Pavlik hesitantly. "Our team reacts well to playing high-quality teams. We can't sit around and say that we'll be real tired. The long run far outweighs the short run."