Most solid rivalries are the product of tough conference clashes and momentum built up over the course of a few years. For the Lion basketball team, the marquee match up is usually against Indiana. For the football team, it is usually Michigan.

But when the men's volleyball team (4-2) takes on Manitoba at 7:30 p.m. today and 7 p.m. tomorrow in the south gym of Rec Hall, a different kind of rivalry will be continued -- an international one.

"It is much better for the spirit of volleyball to have new teams face each other," said Manitoba Coach Garth Pischke, who has led his team to five Canadian championships in his 17 seasons as head coach. "It's not real entertaining to see the same teams getting beat over and over again."

Pischke has a good reason to loathe conference play. The Bison have ripped apart the Great Plains Athletic Conference during his tenure, accumulating a 203-29 conference record, including 80-0 against Regina.

"Our (conference) teams are not real entertaining," Pischke said. "We sort of look down upon our league."

The two-day exhibition marks the fourth and fifth times the two teams will meet this season. The three preseason matches all ended in Manitoba victories.

"We'd like to win one of those suckers," Lion Coach Mark Pavlik said.

But the Lions could not have picked a worse time in the season for a rematch. The Bison are in the midst of a major roll, running up a perfect 35-0 record (6-0 conference) on the season and, more importantly, earning a No. 1 ranking in the Canadian Intrauniversity Athletic Union.

The Bison are led by fourth-year outside Jules Martens and fifth-year outside Steve Welch. Martens, a second team All-Canadian last year, leads the team in kills, attempts, aces and hitting percentage. The 6-foot-5 Welch is an incredible leaper -- he brings Canada's highest spike-touch at 11 feet, 10 inches. Welch's 3,023 career kills rank second on Manitoba's all-time list.

Since none of the high-ranked West Coast teams will visit Rec Hall this season, the Bison will offer the strongest competition the Lions will see at home until the NCAA tournament in May. Although neither match officially counts for the Lions, they will not look at the weekend as an exhibition.

"We know we're in for a war any time we play them," Pavlik said. "It's the kind of match where losing in three games is just as possible as winning in five."

Note:

-- The Lions dropped two points in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association poll but remained No. 6, 10 points behind UC Santa Barbara and 15 points ahead of Southern Cal.