The UCLA men's volleyball team took the court against the Nittany Lions Wednesday night at the Hawaii Collegiate Classic after eight long months of waiting.

The chance had finally come for the emotionally-charged Bruins to exact revenge for their numbing defeat in the national championship game last May.

But the Nittany Lions must have felt that the Bruins needed an extra incentive, so they inadvertantly gift-wrapped a three-game sweep. By hitting a ghastly .184 and committing 31 hitting errors for the match -- 17 for Bruin points -- the Lions fell 9-15, 11-15, 10-15.

"We gave a game to them where they didn't even have to come on the court," Lion Coach Mark Pavlik said. "If we don't make those errors, we're right there with them."

Early in the match, the Lions indicated they would be as good as last year after jumping out to a 9-3 lead in game one. But after calling a timeout, UCLA regained its composure and ran off 12 unanswered points to take the game.

In the second and third games, the Lions stayed with UCLA before the Bruins finished both with a late flurry to complete the sweep and exorcise their eight-month-old ghosts.

"Nothing needs to be said about what happened last year (against Penn State)," said quick hitter Jeff Nygaard, who led the Bruins with 14 kills and committed only one hitting error. "This was a very important win for us.

"Our goal is to not lose another match again," he added.

While the Bruins are trying to reshape a dynasty, the Lions are trying to find team chemistry during a most inopportune time in the season. They are currently in the midst of playing three matches in four days.

After taking on No. 11 Loyola Maramount at 10 p.m. EST last night in the consolation game of the Classic, the Lions will fly to Stanford to take on the No. 2 team in the country at 6 p.m. EST tomorrow.

"No question (the schedule) is tough right now," Pavlik said. "But it's something we need early, to find our identity.

"Teams will find themselves with things they cannot control throughout the season -- injuries, exams or a tough road schedule. But the great teams find a way to make it work for themselves."

Although senior outside hitter Ed Josefoski led the Lions with 19 kills, Penn State's other two outside hitters -- freshman David Gealy and sophomore Jason Kepner -- both struggled.

Kepner finished with eight kills and eight errors and Gealy finished with six errors and five kills for a negative .053 hitting percentage.

Even middle blocker Ivan Contreras, a second-team All-American as a freshman last year, came up short. He finished with seven errors and an .069 hitting percentage.