Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik should have it easy this year.

With a veteran team that is returning 13 of its 15 players from last year's team, Pavlik said he is not concerned with motivation, leadership or team chemistry.

"These guys know each other," Pavlik said.

"We have a great group of seven or eight guys.

I don't think we'll come up short on leaders."

The team is returning three seniors and eight juniors from a season in which it made the final four before losing to Hawaii, the eventual champion, in the semifinals.

Overall, the team went 25-4 last year, including a 14-0 mark in the EIVA.

Senior opposite hitter Zeljko Kolsejar looks for the team to build on last year's successes.

He said that the team will have to play a consistent brand of volleyball if it wants to get back to the final four this year.

Kolsejar, an AVCA second-team All-American selection last year, will start at opposite hitter, where he performed well in the team's first two matches of the year.

He notched 18 and 14 kills against Hawaii and Ball State, respectively.

Penn State's starting lineup will also include senior Zach Slenker and junior Norm Keil, both as middle hitters.

Slenker, a co-captain along with Nate Matthews, finished last year as an AVCA second-team All-American and averaged a team-high 3.37 kills per game.

Primary libero Ricky Mattei and outside hitter Carlos Guerra will also return to the Nittany Lions' starting lineup.

Mattei joined the ranks of Kolsejar and Slenker as AVCA second-team All-America selections last year.

Guerra played well during the team's march to the final four, as he was the only Lion to be named to the NCAA all-tournament team.

Perhaps the team's biggest question mark comes at setter, where the Lions lost three-time All-American Jose Quinones.

Quinones was EIVA player of the year last season, and he also finished his career as Penn State's all-time assist leader.

"Losing Jose presents a whole different set of challenges," Pavlik said.

Matthews will look to fill in the position at setter, where he played strong during the team's matches at the Outrigger Invitational.

He led the Lions with 43 assists in Penn State's loss against Ball State on Sunday.

Slenker said that Matthews is a different type of player than Quinones is, but that the team has confidence that he can fill in and play well just as the team's setter.

To post a similar record to the one last year, the No. 4 Lions will have to fprepare for a challenging schedule, which includes eight teams ranked in the top 15 in the season's first AVCA poll.

In February, the team hosts the Penn State Invitational, where it will take on Springfield, Rutgers-Newark, and No. 11 Lewis.

The team travels west for the first half of March, where it will take on No. 5 Brigham Young and then No. 9 Long Beach State.

After that it will take on the University of Southern California the following weekend at the Long Beach Invitational.

The team hopes to travel to Long Beach, Calif., again in May, where the NCAA final four will take place.