The No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball team knows when they take the court they are favored in almost every match.

The Nittany Lions (14-5, 8-0 EIVA) are the only team from the East Coast in the USA TODAY/ AVCA Coaches Top 10.

The Lions have five losses thus far, and only one comes at the hands of a team in the east.

The Lions dropped a match to Ohio State in Columbus after leading two games to one. The match was the third match of a grueling six-match road trip.

Tonight at 7:30, the Lions take on Loyola University of Chicago in an EIVA-MIVA showdown.

Last year, the Lions traveled to Chicago only to see a two game lead slip away leading to a five game loss.

Tonight it is the Ramblers (12-5, 6-3 MIVA) making the 10-hour trip into State College to face the Lions.

"They are a good physical team," Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said.

"They make very few mistakes. We need to get into our system offensively and we have to challenge their blockers."

The Ramblers have been a tale of two teams this year. They are 9-0 at home this season and a lackluster 3-5 away from Alumni Gym.

"It's awfully tough to win on the road," Pavlik said.

"Especially in the MIVA where the teams are very good at home."

Loyola defeated Lindenwood this past Saturday after coming off a six-game road trip where the Ramblers went 2-4.

The Ramblers offense relies on the hard-hitting sophomore Justin Schnor. Schnor has led the Ramblers four out of the last five matches in kills including a 35 kill performance against IPFW.

Loyola may be the biggest team the Lions will see this year as the Ramblers have six men on the roster 6-foot-7 and over.

It could be a tough night to hit for the Lions as the Ramblers block very well.

"The scouting report will show us some of their tendencies and we will look to expose that," junior Jose Quinones said.

"Some teams like to bunch up in the middle and others like to spread out. If we get energy going early it won't really matter what they try."

Their leading blocker sophomore Dan Haas is questionable for tonight's match-up as the middle hitter missed Loyola's last match-up against Lindenwood.

If Haas is unable to go, senior Jake Hess should fill the role again for Loyola. Last time out Hess blocked nine balls.

"I look forward to great challenges," sophomore Zeljko Koljesar said.

"You got to jump higher, hit smarter, work harder and out-play them."