Say you just cruised to your 14th EIVA conference title. So with two regular season matches left, you rest before the postseason, right?

Well, not so fast.

That's the case for the Penn State men's volleyball team as it heads to George Mason and Princeton this weekend to close out its regular season.

Since they've already clinched home court advantage throughout the EIVA tournament, this weekend's games are more of a matter of pride for the Nittany Lions (20-3, 12-0 EIVA).

"We know that clinching the EIVA isn't enough for us," junior middle hitter Zach Slenker said.

"We don't want to lose a game. We've said all year that we don't want to lose any EIVA games or lose at home."

To keep their 12-match EIVA winning streak alive, Penn State must get past George Mason (15-8, 10-3 EIVA) Friday night when the teams lock up at 7:30 p.m. in John Linn Memorial Gym

The Patriots have been on a tear of late, winning four of their last five matches. Penn State knows George Mason is capable of pulling off an upset, as it surprised the Lions last year by handing them their only EIVA loss.

"We have to realize that we're playing in front of a tough crowd in a tough arena," Slenk-er said. "Last year we were undefeated in the EIVA going down there, and they beat us in five. We know they can play. We plan on seeing them in the semifinals or the finals (of the EIVA tournament), so this is an opportunity to give them a statement that they can't play with us."

Since the teams last met in February -- a three-game victory for Penn State -- Lions head coach Mark Pavlik is expecting to see a more efficient Patriot team.

"I imagine that they're going to be a little bit more polished," Pavlik said. "We've gotten better since February, and I'm assuming they have. We can't expect their errors to give us points. We're concentrating on making sure that with everything we do we're scoring points."

Penn State will also have to contend with a hungry Princeton squad (12-10, 7-5 EIVA) on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Dillon Gymnasium. After dropping six of eight games to start the season, the Tigers have recently ripped into EIVA rivals Juniata and Rutgers-Newark, sweeping both in three games.

"Princeton has always been a team that never really does anything in the fall," Pavlik said. "Their season starts when they get back to school. The first six weeks for them is trying to get a feel, and in the last six weeks of the season they can develop into a pretty good team."

The consensus among the team heading into this weekend is to get better, Pavlik said.

"Clinching home court was nice, but we're not in the playoffs yet," he said. "We have to keep getting better."

Sophomore outside hitter Rhonee Rojas says the team is heading into every practice and match with the NCAA championships in mind.

"May 4 - that's our goal," Rojas said. "That's what we're looking forward to. Every time we come into practice, that's what we're striving for. Every time we hit the ball, every time we hit the floor, it's for May 4."