The No. 9 Penn State men's volleyball team took its first step towards a national championship this past weekend by securing its 15th EIVA regular-season title.

With wins against Princeton (30-17, 30-23, 30-22) and Concordia (30-14, 30-18, 30-27), Penn State improved its record to 21-5, and 13-0 in EIVA competition. The EIVA regular-season title means the Nittany Lions will host the EIVA tournament later this month.

Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said that he was extremely pleased with the team's practices last week and said that the team is playing as good as any team in the country. Looking at the numbers, it is difficult to disagree with Pavlik.

Penn State has dropped just one game in its last six matches, which includes sweeps over ranked opponents Ohio State and Ball State.

Blocking was the difference in the weekend's two matches, as the Lions physically dominated their EIVA opponents.

Pavlik traces the team's improved blocking to a three-game weekend road trip earlier in the season in which Penn State beat Rutgers-Newark, Concordia and Princeton on consecutive nights.

"I don't know if they've blocked this well all year," Pavlik said.

"It is a reflection of how we're playing in practice."

Penn State tallied a season-high with 12.5 blocks against Princeton Friday night, and came back with 11.5 on Saturday against Concordia.

Middle hitter Norm Keil led the Lions on Friday with seven blocks to go along with seven kills. Keith Kowal led the team in blocks for the 16th time this season on Saturday with five against Princeton.

Kowal joked and said that all he does is jump and stick his hands up in the air, hoping he makes contact with the ball. He then said that the extended periods of practice at home has helped Penn State's blocking game.

"It has a lot to do with repetition in practice, reading the setter, and seeing where he's going to hit the ball," Kowal said.

Although Penn State dropped a game to both Concordia and Princeton earlier this year, none of the games this weekend were ever in question.

The Lions outhit Princeton .451 to .081 for the match and .522 to -.143 in the first game. Saturday's game was more of the same as Penn State outhit Concordia .558 to .138 for the match, and .613 to -.069 in the first game.

Keil tied his career high with 15 kills against Concordia, and was the only player to notch double-digit kills as Pavlik played many of his reserves in games two and three.

Carlos Guerra led the Lions for the 16th time this season against Princeton, as he notched 12 kills on 17 attempts.

While the team was proud to win the EIVA regular-season title, it knows that this was only the first step en route to securing the team's second national championship.

"This is a veteran team of guys who have put in four to five years of hard work," Pavlik said. "One month from today will be the last time this team's together. It will be interesting to see how much more we can improve."