For the second straight evening, it appeared as though the "Battle for North America" would be nothing more than a chance for the Nittany Lions to show the home crowd they were ready for continental domination.

After winning the first two games in less than 45 minutes Penn State was well on its way to completing a two-day sweep of Laval in its final exhibition match of the preseason.

But Laval showed it wasn't the defending Canadian national champion for nothing. Down 5-2 in the third game, Coach Pascal Clement's squad clawed their way back into the game to take an 8-7 lead before winning seven of the game's final 11 points.

After Laval took the fourth game, the two teams went blow for blow, knotting the fifth rally game 13-13 before a missile-like kill by Gilbert Remillard gave Laval match point. Senior Ed Josefoski's dump attempt on the ensuing play landed out of bounds, giving Laval a stunning, come-from-behind victory (2-15, 10-15, 15-11, 15-12, 15-13).

"You should never forget what worked before, what you can do when you play well," said Clement. "We made a lot of adjustments after the second game, especially on the parking lot serve." Clement explained he was annoyed by both senior Brian Miller's and junior Carlos Ortiz's long serves, which came from well beyond the baseline and would be considered illegal in national competition.

On an evening when the Laval defense contained the big-play of middle blocker Ivan Contreras (14 kills), the outside hitters stepped up their play. David Gealy totaled seven of his 14 kills in the first game and Jason Kepner finished with a team-high 21 kills on 44 attempts. But it wasn't enough.

"Game three we let get away," said Kepner. "We thought we were doing good. But once we let up, they started getting fire under their feet."

Lion Coach Mark Pavlik agreed.

"After the tentative break (between the second and third games), we just stopped everything," he said. "There were a couple of streaks where we got a little bit sloppy and that little bit hurt us.

"To be a chamionship-caliber team, sometimes you have to deal with losing a couple of matches you shouldn't lose and winning a few you shouldn't win," Pavlik added. "Tonight was one of those nights we shouldn't have lost."

Statistics show the coach is right. The Lions finished the match with more kills and service aces.