The No. 9 Penn State men's volleyball team tightened the stranglehold they have on the EIVA regular season title by winning two more matches against EIVA rivals Princeton and No.14 Concordia.

The Nittany Lions (10-2, 7-0 EIVA Tait) opened the weekend with a three-game sweep (30-24, 30-20, 30-27) of the Princeton Tigers (4-5, 3-3).

They followed that performance with a big victory (30-25, 28-30, 30-25, 30-24) over the Concordia Clippers (12-2, 7-1). The Clippers loss against the Lions was their first loss in EIVA play this season.

Yesterday, the Lions came out in game one and asserted themselves against a top team. The Lions would trail just once in game one, while compiling a .818 hitting percentage.

Sophomore Carlos Guerra and sophomore Zeljko Koljesar led the way in game one combining for 13 kills.

Guerra finished the match with 18 kills, tied with Koljesar for the match high. Having just one error in the opening game allowed them to win the crucial first game.

"We needed the good start," sophomore Zeljko Koljesar said. "If we didn't start with our best they will get points early and beat us."

Games two and three were different stories as neither team would reach a .200 hitting percentage after game one saw both teams hit over .500. Concordia was able to overcome a three point deficit at the technical timeout and win game two. The deficit could have been more early on if not for the play of sophomore Juan Jose Parra who had three blocks to start game two.

"It's a tough game to lose," Koljesar said. "We were real angry, they played real hard, but their runs of points came on our mistakes."

Concordia could not carry over the momentum to the third game. Concordia totaled just six kills compared to 19 for the Lions. Both teams exhibited sloppy play in game three as they combined for 17 errors.

"It's unbelievable how we had 13 errors and still won the game so easily," Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said.

The fourth and deciding game opened with a skirmish between junior John Mills and the Clippers' junior setter Alvaro Valasco. Words were exchanged, but the referees immediately stepped in and issued each player a yellow card.

When play resumed the Lions picked up their intensity and they jumped out to a 24-11 lead, before winning the match 30-24.

"It's an emotional game," Pavlik said. "With two guys as competitive as Valasco and John words fly. They were going back and forth letting each other know who was better. I thought the refs handled it well, and we raised our level after that, and they didn't."

On Saturday afternoon the Lions had no problems putting away Princeton. The Lions hit .479 for the match, while holding Princeton to .302. Many Lions saw playing time against Princeton as Lions had won the first two games handily. Junior setter Jose Quinones finished the weekend with 78 assists, 13 kills, and nine digs.

"I feel this was Jose's best match beginning to end all season long," Pavlik said of Quinones' performance yesterday. "In transition he was creative and he got different guys hot. He didn't try to do too much and gave us a great effort."

The Lions now must prepare for a stretch that could prove to be the toughest in team history. They start the trip Thursday night at Ball State and the trip concludes on the west coast for three matches against nationally ranked teams.