The No.9 Penn State men's volleyball team will look to extend its winning streak to nine this weekend as they play host to EIVA rivals Princeton and No.14 Concordia.

The match against Concordia (11-1, 6-0 EIVA Tait) on Sunday will be the first ranked team the Nittany Lions (8-2, 4-0 EIVA Tait) will have played since the Outrigger Invitational last month.

Princeton (4-3, 3-1 EIVA Tait) is coming into the weekend fresh off of two straight wins.

"Princeton is scrappy they always give us tough matches," junior Jose Quinones said. "There is something about them they never go away. We must make sure we are sharp when we face Concordia because it is going to be tough, we need to play real hard."

Last season the Lions defeated Princeton twice and Concordia three times, including the sweep of Concordia in the EIVA Championship. Once again, Concordia looks to be the main threat to the Lions 13th EIVA Title as both teams come into the weekend undefeated in EIVA play.

"Concordia is capable of beating us," Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said. "These are the teams we want to play that make you pay for poor execution."

The Lions are coming off of a match where they feel they may not have played up to standards. They dropped a game to Quincy last time out, and the Lions looked at times to just be going through the motions.

"We need to come together and gel more as a team," junior John Mills said. "We need to take care of business and show teams everywhere we are serious about national title."

Concordia matches up well with the Lions as they do have size. Their middle blocker Juan Jose Parra is 6'8", the sophomore has registered 19 blocks over the last three matches. Sophomore Ashraf Taman has also put up big numbers over the last three games 13 kills and almost seven digs a game.

"I want to be the best middle in the nation so basically I want to destroy everyone," Mills said.

These matches could be very important for the Lions as after this weekend the Lions have three days off, and then they trek on a six game eight-day road trip. The trip features matches against No.3 Pepperdine, No.7 UC-Santa Barbara, and No.5 Long Beach State. The Lions also have rematches with IPFW and Ohio State.

"If we have a successful weekend here it's a good springboard for those next six matches on the road," Pavlik said.

Penn State takes on Princeton tomorrow at 4 p.m. and Quincy on Sunday, also at 4 p.m.