Weekend wakeup call for spikers

After traveling home from a tournament six time zones away, the Penn State men's volleyball team had one thing on its mind -- sleep.

The No. 4 Nittany Lions are coming off of a strong appearance at last weekend's Outrigger Invitational in Hawaii, where they upset No. 2 UCLA and played well in a loss to No. 3 Hawaii.

But the traveling has taken its toll on the Lions, and they will try to minimize its effects this weekend as they take the court against Juniata and Rutgers-Newark.

"We are hoping to spread the ball out a little bit this weekend," Lion assistant coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. "We're real tired right now."

Penn State relied heavily on co-captains Jason Kepner and Ivan Contreras for kills in Hawaii, but the Lions will be looking for their middle blockers to pick up some of the slack this weekend.

"Sergio (Pampena) and Brad (Miller) will have to take on a little bit more of the offensive load," Hohenshelt said. "We'd like to try rest Jason and Ivan a little bit."

The first team to challenge the Lions will be Juniata at 8 p.m. tonight.

Juniata gave the Lions a tough match at the Nittany Lion Invitational two weeks ago, but Penn State won in three games.

The Eagles will rely heavily on Tim Shawaryn and Chris Fazio to put points on the board, with the assistance of last year's leading Division III setter, Mark Wodzinski.

Juniata is only a Division III school, but coach Ryan Patton doesn't think that should be a factor as it plays the nationally ranked Lions.

"We're at the point now where we are not coming in to play good and score 10 points a game," Patton said. "We're coming in hoping to put together a good match and win."

Rutgers-Newark coach Ron Larsen has similar aspirations, as his team enters Rec Hall at 8 p.m. tomorrow hoping to avenge its loss to the Lions at the Nittany Lion Invitational.

The Raiders played well against the Lions, but some clutch play from Contreras allowed Penn State to sweep them.

Larsen feels his team will have to be more aware of the threat Contreras and Kepner pose while not letting that adversely affect its play.

"We have to focus and realize that things are not going to just fall into place," Larsen said.

The Raiders' level of play should be greatly increased by the return of two fierce hitters, Stephen George and Patrick Jeanty, who did not make the trip to State College two weeks ago.

"We're not sure what to expect from those two and what they'll bring to the team," Hohenshelt said. "They were a pretty solid team without them."

The Raiders are coming off a disappointing road trip to Chicago, where they lost to Loyola (Chicago) and No. 11 Lewis, but Larsen doesn't think that will affect his team's mind-set against the Lions.

"We feel comfortable playing Penn State," he said. "I just think the level of play has to increase on our side of the net for us to compete throughout the course of the match."

Although Penn State is still riding high on the confidence it gained last weekend, the Lions realize they won't be able to sleepwalk through this weekend's matches.

"They are probably our main competition in the East," Hohenshelt said. "These are two teams we can't get lackadaisical on."