The No. 9 Penn State men's volleyball team went into the Outrigger Hotels Invitational Tournament in Hawaii undefeated and left with a .500 record.

The Nittany Lions defeated Laval three games to two in match that lasted two hours and 42 minutes to salvage a third place finish in the tournament.

Earlier, the Lions (2-2) were defeated in four games (30-24, 17-30, 22-30, 21-30) Wednesday night against No. 6 Hawaii. Thursday night the Lions tried to rebound against No. 5 UCLA, but lost a five-game heartbreaker (27-30, 28-30, 30-24, 30-19, and 5-15).

Penn State came out against Hawaii (3-1) and had 15 kills and 12 digs to win game one. But the Lions couldn't keep the momentum going in game two as they hit just .033, while Hawaii hit a lofty .696.

In games three and four, Penn State faltered with 13 service errors as Hawaii won three straight games to take the match.

"The reason we won (the first game) is that we played real well," said Penn State coach Mark Pavlik. "Hawaii missed eight or nine serves the first game. The second game it was 5-5, and then we hit the wall. We didn't get on to the court until 9 p.m. and it felt like it was 2 a.m. in our bodies."

Over 4600 fans attended the match up between the top 10 teams as Hawaii put the home court advantage to work. Hawaii led the NCAA in attendance last year.

"Hawaii is always tough at home," Pavlik said. "They are the greatest fans in the country. We won every long rally that game and the fans were cheering both teams. It is certainly not a hostile environment, but it is very intimidating."

Service errors once again haunted Penn State as they committed 16 in games one and two against UCLA. Penn State out hit, had more blocks and digs than UCLA, but managed to lose game one.

"You can equate errors in the service game to the same thing as missing free throws in basketball," Pavlik said. "It is a matter of not executing and concentrating. Servers have thoughts of wanting an ace and are not thinking of what they have to do for a good serve."

Game two saw Bruins Ian Burnham and Matt Komer combine for 16 kills in this game. Komer was named to the All-Tournament team along with teammate Adam Naeve. UCLA was able to outhit Penn State in game two .290 to .222.

Games three and four Penn State eliminated their unforced errors and UCLA's passing game fell apart as Penn State claimed the next two games, but not without a price. Junior setter Jose Quinones took a ball off of his thumb and was able to stay in, but his setting was affected.

Sophomore middle hitter Zach Slenker rolled an ankle in game four and was not able to return. Slenker won't practice immediately, but could be ready to go against George Mason and Quinones should be fine for George Mason.

Without Slenker and with Quinones hurting, Penn State was beaten 15-5 in the deciding fifth set. UCLA jumped out to a 9-2 lead and didn't look back.

"In the fifth game with Jose hurting and Zach out we became real predictable," said Pavlik. "With UCLA if you don't set the ball real well they are gonna stuff it."

UCLA won the tournament in a five game match over Hawaii. Zeljko Koljesar was named to the All-Tournament team and was Penn State's only representative. The men's volleyball team returns to action Friday night versus George Mason at 7:30 p.m. in Rec Hall.