Spikers on the road again at Flyer Festival

For the fourth time in five weeks, the No. 2 Penn State men's volleyball team is hitting the road to play in a tournament, as it heads to Lewis University this weekend for the Flyer Festival.

The Nittany Lions (22-1, 6-0 EIVA) are riding a 17-match win streak and are looking to add to that. They've won four tournament titles this season, including last weekend's tournament Ball State.

Penn State first will take on No. 11 Lewis (19-7) tonight.

The Flyers have are led by setter Doug McBride and middle hitter Victor Rivera. Rivera, Lewis' strongest hitter, leads the team with 397 kills.

Despite their talent, the Flyers struggled in a three-set loss to the Lions earlier this season at the Golden Dome Classic. The Lions dominated that match, keeping McBride off-balance and shutting down Rivera.

But Penn State is not expecting this match to be as easy. The Lions have been run ragged with the constant traveling over the last month, and Lewis has the benefit of a home crowd.

"Those are all legitimate concerns," Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said. "If we can go into their gym and do well enough to win, that will say a lot for our team."

The Lions' weekend should get easier Saturday, as they face independent La Verne (3-20). La Verne's main offensive threat is Rob Sneider, who is averaging 5.33 kills per game.

Penn State has been strong all season, and there are no signs that will change.

"This team is really centered and even keeled," Pavlik said. "Right now we're just trying to give some guys more reps and just tune things up."

The Lions' main objective is to stay hungry while playing lesser teams and remain focused on the postseason, which is just two weeks away.