Like a great free throw shooter, Carlos Guerra goes through the same routine every time.

He receives the ball, and rolls up both of his sleeves past his shoulders.

He wipes off the bottoms of his sneakers with his hands, so as not to slip.

Guerra bounces the ball with both hands three times, staring a hole into the Rec Hall floor.

He spins the ball in his hands twice, and then appears ready.

The ball is tossed high in to the air, as Guerra jumps, makes contact, and just like that, puts Penn State up 25-16, forcing Lewis to call a timeout.

With the service winner, Guerra becomes the all-time ace leader in Penn State men's volleyball history, passing Jose Quinones, and becomes the only Penn State player to ever reach 100 aces.

While Penn State lost the match to Lewis, Guerra and fellow seniors Zach Slenker and Zeljko Koljesar have helped direct the No. 9 Penn State men's volleyball team at crucial times during the first third of the season.

Although all of Penn State's losses have come to teams ranked ahead of the Nittany Lions, the team did defeat No. 15 Loyola-Chicago, and played No. 5 Lewis tough at home, before eventually falling (30-21, 27-30, 21-30, 27-30).

In both these matches, the seniors elevated their play, leaving Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik feeling encouraged.

Slenker tied his career high, notching 17 kills in the sweep against Loyola, only to set a new career high against Lewis, with 21 kills.

"Zach has really played well the last couple of weeks," Pavlik said. "If he keeps playing like this, people are going to have to worry about him."

Slenker's serve in the Penn State Invitational looked virtually unhittable. In Penn State's win in the first game against Lewis, the two teams were knotted at 12-12 when it was Slenker's turn to serve.

Before Slenker's run was over, Lewis had been forced to call a timeout, and Penn State led 17-13.

In the match's third game, the Lions' co-captain took the ball with Penn State down 29-25.

Slenker served back-to-back aces, forcing Lewis to call a timeout, before a kill by the Flyers ended the game. Slenker's strong serving has been noticed by both his coach and his teammates.

"We came out a little bit flat," said junior Keith Kowal after Penn State's win against Springfield. "The turning point was when Zach went on that service run."

Along with the strong play of Guerra and Slenker, Koljesar also has elevated his play at some critical times for the Lions.

Before Slenker's serving run against Lewis, it was Koljesar and Norm Keil's block of Lewis outside hitter Gustavo Mayer that shifted the momentum in Penn State's favor.

Mayer looked like he would dominate the match before the block, which prompted Koljesar to raise his hands and call for the crowd.

The energy shown by Koljesar is something that Pavlik said the team has lacked against its EIVA opponents all year.

While the three seniors have a long list of individual accolades to their names, the only goal this year is to make it back to the final four and, hopefully, win it.

"This was a measuring stick," Slenker said after the loss to Lewis. "The good thing is the national championship isn't until May. We know we'll be a better team by then."