Don't count on the Penn State men's volleyball team cooling off anytime soon.

The Nittany Lions will trade in the snow-covered hills of State College today through Saturday for the warm, sandy beaches of Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Lions take their No. 1 ranking and 1-0 record to the Outrigger Invitational, where they will play top national championship contenders No. 3 Hawaii (1-1), No. 2 UCLA (2-1) as well as Lewis (0-0).

The Outrigger Invitational will give the Lions the opportunity to play some of the top competitive teams in collegiate volleyball early in the season.

"Playing these guys this early in the season shows you how unforgiving this level of volleyball is," Lions coach Mark Pavlik said. "In other words, if we don't execute, it's going to cost us. I really think it is a benefit for us this early in the season to be put out there with everybody else that plays at a pretty high level and shown that they've done it over time."

Pavlik's players know the advantages of the challenging play at the Outrigger.

"It gives us a good marker for where we're going to be at right now and where we're going to need to improve," said co-captain Zach Slenker, a junior middle hitter. "It's going to give us a good place to check our skills and see where we're going to need to improve."

The heat will be on when Penn State takes on Hawaii Thursday at 7 p.m. Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time. The game will be broadcast on the Internet at (www.khnl.com) at midnight EST on Friday.

The Lions hope to contain Hawaii's big junior middle hitter, Dejan Miladinovic, a physical player with experience, and sophomore setter Kimo Tuyay, who is coming off of a freshman year in which he was named ASICS/Volleyball Magazine Freshman of the Year.

"Hawaii is a team that is going to try to outwork you," Pavlik said. "They're going to try to serve tougher than you. We have to make sure we don't give them any easy points."

On top of those threats, Penn State's defense will have to contain AVCA Player of the Year junior opposite hitter Kostas Theocharidis.

"You have to make him (Theocharidis) work hard for everything he gets because he's going to get enough," Pavlik said.

The Lions play UCLA, who has won the Outrigger event four straight years, Friday at 4:30 p.m. Pavlik expects UCLA to place emphasis on player movement, serving and blocking.

"UCLA has kind of always lived by the serving and blocking game," Pavlik said. "They're going to be sufficient siding out. If they can get you in position so that they know where the ball is going, they're really good at blocking that ball."

Penn State will have to stay hot against Lewis, who they will play Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Featuring the 2001 AVCA Freshman of the Year opposite hitter Fabiano Barreto, Lewis is an explosive up-and-coming team to watch. Along with Barreto, standout freshman opposite hitter Gustavo Meyer will lead a young team that is capable of pulling upsets.

"Lewis is a young group but they have a lot of potential," Penn State outside hitter Carlos Guerra said. "They're going to get better and better. We can't overlook anything because then they'll have a chance against us."

Team mentality will determine how well the Lions play, junior right-side hitter Zeljko Koljesar said.

"We have to keep grinding," he said. "We can beat any other team in the country. Discipline, poise, and how well we play will determine the outcome."

"We're the team to beat so I'm sure that they're going to be gunning for us," Slenker said.