The Penn State men's volleyball team was dominant this weekend in its exhibition matches against Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions defeated the Buckeyes 3-2 (30-25, 28-30, 30-20, 28-30, 15-8) on Friday and 3-1 (31-33, 30-23, 30-21, 30-14) Saturday. Friday night's match was the team's first of the season. Penn State coach Mark Pavlik rotated players frequently into different positions to determine which rotations were most effective.

"We wanted to give everyone on Friday night a taste of the Rec Hall crowd," Pavlik said.

Ohio State narrowly won games two and four by two points each. The occasional sloppy defensive play and service errors were to be expected, but the Lions pulled through with strong play on offense. Alex Gutor led the team with 13 kills.

Ohio State forced the Lions into the fifth and final game, and Penn State outside hitter Kevin Wentzel stepped up to the challenge when it was his turn to serve. The crowd roared to life as Wentzel hit three service aces. This solid performance earned Penn State its first win.

On Saturday, many fans stuck around after the football game, and Rec Hall saw a larger and rowdier crowd than on Friday. Among those in attendance was former Lady Lions standout Kelly Mazzante. Fans enthusiastically cheered on the Nittany Lions and swung their white "Growl Towels" with excitement.

With one night of match experience behind them, the Lions came out with a more organized and set rotation of players.

"We wanted to make this the feature match night, build some consistency, just let some of our guys get into it a little more than if we were switching all the time," Pavlik said.

Game one had many long rallies, but the Lions could not capitalize on the two game point opportunities they had, and Ohio State grabbed the early lead. Matt Proper was a force on offense with six kills. In game two, Ohio State committed several service errors, and the Lions pulled away 30-23.

The Lions continued their dominance in games three and four. Proper had two aces and finished the match as the team leader with 17 kills.

The Lions effectively shut down the Buckeyes' offense, as senior co-captain Keith Kowal had seven of the team's 20 blocks. Freshman libero Gary Vogel had 20 of 51 team digs, preventing many Buckeye scoring opportunities.

"I can't say enough about our blocking defense," Pavlik said.

Overall, the Lions' performance on Saturday gave the Rec Hall crowd of about 1,200 a big reason to cheer.

"I think it's a good way to start a season against a team that's going to make you work," Pavlik said.

The Lions will continue that work in practice to improve on the little things that Pavlik and Kowal mentioned as areas of concern.

"We've got to clean up the small things out there ... for a mature team, we have to start playing like it," Kowal said.

Pavlik did seem pleased to see that the team's hard work in practice paid off in competition.

"I'm glad to see that the guys have the attitude that what they do in practice can, and does, carry over into what they do in a match," Pavlik said.