This weekend the No. 7 Penn State men's volleyball team had the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome.

In the 3-2 (24-30, 35-33, 30-21, 17-30, 15-11) win against Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne Friday, it seemed a different team took the court in each game for the Nittany Lions. In games one and four, the Lions looked like a confused, overmatched team, while in games two, three, and five they looked like a team deserving to be the seventh-ranked team in the nation. On Saturday, they regained their identity and pounded George Mason 3-0 (30-26, 30-12, 30-21).

"Fort Wayne should have won that match," Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said. "We played hard in games two, three and five and that was the difference."

IPFW came into the match with the mindset that it was going to shut down Penn State middle-hitter Keith Kowal and did exactly that, holding him to just seven kills and a season-low .167 hitting percentage.

"They did as good a job on Keith as anyone has," Pavlik said. "They took Keith out of the offense."

The Mastodons' defensive effort gave the Lions trouble from the start. In game one, the IPFW passing was nearly perfect, while Penn State's was flat-out bad. The Mastodons attacked freshman outside-hitter Alex Gutor, and he had a tough time handling the ball. As a result, IPFW had a relatively easy time, and Penn State senior libero Ricky Mattei was visibly unhappy with his team's effort.

"I was upset with the way we came out," Mattei said. "There is no need to come out and play like that."

In games two and three, the Lions responded to Mattei's emotion. They outlasted the Mastodons in a tough-fought second game and absolutely dominated game three. With Kowal held in check, sophomore middle-hitter Nate Meerstein stepped up. He finished the match with a team-high 17 kills and .538 hitting percentage.

Game four was a different story. Penn State again looked like a team that could not do anything right. IPFW scored at will and picked apart the Lions' defense, bring the match to a deciding-fifth game. In game five, the Lions rose back to the level they had in games two and three. They jumped on the Mastodons quickly, taking an 8-5 lead, and never looked back. The closest IPFW could get was within two points, but the Lions held on for a 15-11 win. The 3-2 victory gave Penn State seniors Mattei, Rhonee Rojas and Josh Mowrey a win in their final regular-season home match.

"You go into your senior season and look forward to senior night," Mattei said. "It was a great match tonight and felt great to get the win. All I want this time of year is wins."

On Saturday, Penn State was focused and disposed of the Patriots quickly. The Lions kept the ball in play and forced George Mason to try and beat them. Penn State's talent and strength was too much for the Patriots, and the Lions will go into the EIVA tournament on a seven-game winning streak.