It's the week of February 21.

The Penn State men's volleyball team is in the middle of EIVA league play and takes on New York University, St. Francis and Rutgers-Newark. The Nittany Lions dominate and sweep all three teams in quick matches. Penn State could have started play after appetizers and been back in time for dessert.

Meanwhile, in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Pepperdine takes on Hawaii, a matchup between the top two teams in the country. The teams play twice, each winning once, but both Hawaii and Pepperdine undoubtedly come out of the week more improved than the Lions.

Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik has made no secret about the fact that he would love to schedule more challenging opponents during the regular season, but doing so is difficult because the strength of power in men's volleyball is in the West.

Now, with the regular season over, Penn State prepares for its EIVA semifinal match tomorrow night against Princeton in hopes of an EIVA championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA final four. The final four is comprised of the winner of the EIVA, the winner of the MIVA, the winner of the MPSF and one at-large team.

Therefore, while Pavlik would like to face stronger opponents during the regular season, the Lions seem to have a distinct advantage playing in the EIVA when it comes to the postseason. Penn State has won the EIVA tournament and moved on to the final four in 10 out of the last 11 seasons, including the last four. Meanwhile, teams in the MPSF, where seven of the eight teams ranked ahead of No. 9 Penn State play, have to face each other in the MPSF tournament to gain an automatic berth in the final four. Despite being the No. 9 team in the country, Penn State is easily a favorite to make the final four.

Pavlik said that Penn State is also at an advantage because the teams out West do not get to see the Lions play during the regular season.

"Not a whole lot of people have information on us," Pavlik said.

All the teams in the West know about Penn State is what they saw when the Lions played four matches against MPSF teams during spring break. In two of these matches against Long Beach State, Penn State was without EIVA Uvaldo Acosta Memorial Player of the Year Carlos Guerra. There is no sweet 16 or elite eight in men's volleyball, but right now, 12 teams remain eligible for the NCAA semifinals, as the three conferences will play their semifinals this weekend. In the EIVA, Penn State plays Princeton, with Rutgers-Newark taking on George Mason.

"If we play at the level we're capable of, it's going to take a great sustained effort to beat us," Pavlik said.

Great may not accurately describe it. Perhaps miraculous is more like it. Penn State has won its last 33 EIVA games, and the only team to push the Lions to the limit this season has been George Mason, whom Penn State took five games to defeat in early March.

Meanwhile, in the MPSF semifinals, No. 1 Pepperdine will square off against No. 6 UC-Irvine, and No. 2 Hawaii will face No. 3 BYU.

"Pepperdine has probably been consistently the best team in the country this year," Pavlik said. "They haven't had a lot of ups and downs."

In the MIVA, No. 5 Lewis, which beat Penn State earlier this season, is the favorite, as the Flyers will take on Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne in one semifinal, with Ball State squaring off against Loyola-Chicago in the other semifinal. The Lions clearly have the easiest road to the final four of any ranked team in the country. Penn State will look to put away its EIVA opponents this weekend and then begin thinking about winning its second national championship.