The Penn State-Ohio State Big Ten rivalry seems to be setting up quite nicely so far. Just ask the men's volleyball team.

The Lions completed a four-match sweep of Ohio State last night at Columbus, Ohio, giving the team 10 straight wins over the Buckeyes. In the latest win, the team needed four games to earn the win, 15-9, 15-10, 11-15 and 16-14.

After sweeping the Buckeyes twice at Rec Hall and winning once at a neutral site (a four-game win at the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Mass.) this season, the No. 2 Lions (15-1, 4-0 EIVA) took to the road to close out the series with Ohio State (18-10, 5-2 MIVA).

"We didn't win very convincingly," Coach Tom Peterson said. "(Ohio State) played real good, and we were looking kind of weak."

The Lions had to come from behind in all three of the games that they won from unranked Ohio State. The team was down 6-2 in game one and 6-3 in game two, before winning 15-9 and 15-10. In game three, the Lions could not muster up another comeback, losing 15-11. Peterson said that the team looked fatigued after a week of difficult practices.

"We weren't playing real crisp tonight for the whole match," Peterson said of the team's 14th consecutive win. "The kids were worried that we are not in great shape. A few of the guys are sore, and I guess I might have overworked them in practice, but we will be focused tomorrow night. We have to be."

Today, the Lions will travel to the Asics VolleyCard Classic in Muncie, Ind., to do battle with two ranked teams. The Lions play No. 11 host-Ball State (20-7) at 8:00 p.m today, and will do battle with No. 9 Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne (13-5), at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow.

"If we are not crisp right from the get-go, we will be in trouble," Peterson said. "Ball State is very tough, especially at home in front of their crowd."

Leading the Lions as usual was senior Ramon Hernandez with a team-high 30 kills, 11 digs and nine blocks. Senior Ed Josefoski contributed 22 kills and freshman Ivan Contreras added 16 kills and eight blocks.

"In the end, it was our regular guys leading us to the win," Peterson said. "Ramon was the put-away guy when we needed it, and Ed was playing really well from the swing position."

In game four, the Lions faced another loss, down 14-11. But they fought back once again, taking the lead 15-14. At match point, a huge rally ensued, sending players from both teams all over the court. But behind some key digs and hustle, the Lions put the match away, Peterson said.

For the Buckeyes, Lion-killer Steve Potter put away a match-high 33 kills on 67 attempts. Ohio State also collected 28 team blocks, led by 10 from senior Jay Eastman.