The No. 3 Lions will be traveling to the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg to compete in an exhibition tournament. The results will not count towards Penn State's record, which now stands at 7-1. The Lions will take on Winnipeg (No. 8 in the Canadian InterAthletic Union poll, 18-16) at 9:15 p.m., today, British Columbia (No. 3, 11-10) at noon tomorrow and Manitoba (No. 2, 35-4) at 8 p.m. tomorrow. The results of the pool play will determine when the teams play on Sunday. The consolation match will be at noon on Sunday with the championship match immediately following.

Key stats: Leading the team statistically are senior Ramon Hernandez (101 kills, 8 aces), senior Byron Schneider (.437 hitting efficiency), junior Ed Josefoski (30 blocks) and freshman Ivan Contreras (8 aces).

Injuries: Sophomore setter Carlos Ortiz reinjured his left thumb, but Coach Tom Peterson did not forsee it as being a problem.

Preview: Manitoba had been No. 1 all season, until a recent loss to rival Laval University dropped them to No. 2, behind Laval. Canadian students are given five years of athletic eligibility that they can use at any time. It is because of this that Manitoba has five Canadian national team members on its squad.

Coach Peterson says: "I think we will do just fine on the road. Our main advantage this year over some of the other teams is that we have such strong team camaraderie. And team cohesion is especially good on such a long trip."

No. 3 Penn State (18-7) takes to the road for a 6:15 p.m. game tomorrow against No. 12 Rhode Island (13-7-3). The trip continues with a 4:15 p.m. match Sunday with No. 19 West Chester (11-8).

Key stats: Penn State hopes forward Rob Keegan can continue his stellar play. Keegan's 19 goals and 31 assists give him the team lead in points with 50. Forward Brad Russell is only two points away from joining the all-time top 10 scoring list.

Injuries: Forward Ed Waryas suffered a broken ankle last week and will miss the remainder of the season.

Preview: The Icers are currently enjoying a six-game winning streak and look to clinch first place in the ACHL with one more league victory. Penn State faced both teams earlier in the year, defeating Rhode Island 7-2 in the Nittany Lion Invitational semifinal, and clobbering West Chester 16-1 at the Ice Pavilion in November.

Rhode Island comes into the game in second place in the ACHL with a 5-2 league record. West Chester has won five games in a row, including road wins last weekend against West Virginia and Duquesne.

Coach Joe Battista says: "I'd really like us to keep our winning streak alive. The seedings for the national tournament are going to be based on our record at the end of this weekend, so it's important to win to secure the No. 3 spot or possibly move up to No. 2."

No. 11 Penn State (5-4) will travel to No. 3 Alabama (3-2) for a showdown at 7:30 p.m. today.

Key stats: Freshmen Bea Selz and Leigh Cappello both qualified for the Cat Classic Individual Championships last week. Selz qualified with a 9.55, posting an 8.95 in the finals, and Cappello qualified with a 9.5 and nailed a 9.675 in the finals. Sophomore Michelle Manzolillo saw her first action of the season last week, posting a 9.525 on the uneven bars. Manzolillo is recovering from a serious knee injury sustained almost a year ago.

Injuries: No major injuries for the Lady Lions except freshman Sharon Barbato's chronic tendonitis. Barbato once again will not compete -- she has not competed yet this year due to the injury.

Preview: The Lady Lions took second place in last week's six-team Cat Classic, posting a 190.6 --their season high -- losing only to host Missouri.

The Alabama Crimson Tide are coming off a loss to No. 1 Georgia -- 195.275-194.0 -- the team that defeated the Lady Lions in their season opener by a 192.125-190.375 score.

Alabama is a gymnastics hotbed, as evidenced by their school-sport record crowd of 9,511 last week.

Coach Steve Shephard says: "I think (Penn State) has the potential to be ranked in the top five. It's still early and we're still looking to improve."

Michigan State will be host to Michigan, Notre Dame and PSU in a quad-meet tomorrow in East Lansing, Mich.

Key stats: Michigan was the Big Ten champion last year, while Notre Dame was also very strong in NCAA competition. Penn State's distance medley relay team improved its provisional qualifying time last week at the Hardees Invitation.

Preview: The Lady Lions will be together again, following last weekend's three-way split, to compete in what may be their most challenging meet so far this season. The meet will be used as a chance to qualify for NCAA's in the mile, 800 and 5000 meters and the shot put. Preparing for the Big Ten competition in two weeks will also be a driving force for the team.

Coach Teri Jordan says: "This is a high-risk, high-reward philosophy going into a very challenging meet. Any time you try to push for qualifying times, you risk losing some points. We have a lot of individual powers, who are ready for the challenge and we've also had a lot of the younger runners step up for a well rounded team."

Penn State will face Cornell, Waterloo and Western Ontario as well as several Iona athletes at 11 a.m. Saturday, at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.

Key stats: Penn State's Bob Hamer was anchor for last weekend's provisional qualifying and record-setting distance medley relay team. He, along with Jake Bartholomy, will once again be trying to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships, this time in the 3,000-meter run. Antonio Davis, coming off a two-week break, will return to actions in the triple and long jumps. Brian Kelley, Nate Goins, and David Kriz will warm up for the pentathalon by competing in those individual events.

Also, the Nittany Lions will unleash football running stars Ki-Jana Carter and Justin Williams in the 55-meter dash and Brian King in the 400-meter.

Injuries: There are no major injuries.

Preview: This weekend's meet will be the first scored meet the Nittany Lions compete in since their second-place showing in a Big Ten tri-meet three weeks ago. The Lions will be permitted to carry more than the Big Ten limit of 28 athletes for this quad meet, which should give them the depth they need to win. In the 3,000 meter, Penn State will be up against All-Americans Rob Cunningham and Brian Klas from Cornell and Packie Mulvaney from Iona, all of whom will be trying to hit an NCAA provisional qualifying time.

The Lions also will be helped by the fact that most of the team had last weekend off, so they should be well-rested.

Coach Harry Groves says: "This is giving everybody one good shot to get in (the Big Tens). Somebody wants to keep his position, he has to earn it."