Spikers host preseason tournament

By JOSH DAECHE
AND TONY MAUER
Collegian Staff Writers

The Penn State men's volleyball team continues its home preseason schedule tomorrow when it hosts a preseason tournament at Rec Hall's south gym.

Among the five visiting teams will be four fellow Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association squads from East Stroudsburg, Juniata, New Jersey Institute of Technology and St. Francis (Pa.), as well as non-conference opponent Mercyhurst.

Penn State will play eight matches in the day.

The Lions have played amongst themselves for the past two weeks in Blue-White games. Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik has placed his squad in a number of different situations on the court. Pavlik wants his players to adapt to new and different situations. He wants the team to be familiar playing with different players.

East Stroudsburg head coach Sean Byron is starting his first year with the Warriors. The team played above .500 last season, but Byron is trying to better that, and has had the Warriors practicing the past two weeks. Some of the key returnees for the Div. II Warriors are outside hitters Jason Hartzel, Casey Tomilson and Bill Roth. Byron has also been impressed with freshman setter Chris James.

"James is from New York, and he has a lot of raw talent," Byron said.

Perhaps the most exciting team to watch tomorrow will be Juniata.

The Eagles are the defending Div. III champions after defeating LaVerne last spring in four games.

The Eagles, coached by Ryan Patton and assistant coach Heather Pavlik, wife of Penn State's coach Pavlik, will return strong this year led by juniors Rod Kirby and Jason Moore, and sophomore Kevin Moore.

If you're looking for a spoiler in this weekend's tournament, you might just find it in the Highlanders.

NJIT, a Div. II school, shocked the Lions last year in Newark, N.J. in four games.

St. Francis (Pa.) will look to get off to a good start Saturday, as it looks to bury past woes.

The Red Flash are coming off a disappointing season last year in which they went 7-14 overall, 1-5 in conference play, after being edged out for an EIVA playoff berth by George Mason in 1997.