Forgive the Penn State men's volleyball team if it doesn't show the same enthusiasm for traveling to scenic Muncie and Fort Wayne, Ind., this weekend as it did two weeks ago when jetting to Hawaii for the Outrigger Invitational Tournament.

"The travel doesn't bother us, except now when you get off the bus the weather's a bit different," coach Mark Pavlik said.

Awaiting the Nittany Lions (1-2) in Indiana will be cold, wet weather, and most importantly, the teams from Ball State and Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne. A 10-hour bus ride away, the Lions hope the ride home will seem shorter after two wins on the road trip.

"We're so used to travelling that it's not a big deal," Pavlik said.

What is a big deal, though, is Penn State's blocking game.

Through the season's first three matches (two of which were against top-10 opponents) the No. 7 Lions out-blocked opponents by a total of 50-30.5. An impressive statistic, no doubt, but Pavlik is anticipating improvement upon those numbers.

"Last year's team got better and better with our blocking as the year went on," Pavlik said.

"That's one of the strengths of this team -- I think we've got a pretty good blocking team.

"We're getting stuffs, we touch a ton of balls and with [libero] Gary [Vogel] back there, we do a pretty good job of sweeping that up too."

On the attacking end, the Lions are looking to set co-captains Nate Meerstein and Keith Kowal up with many touches.

A look at the statistics shows the team has done a pretty good job with this so far this season.

Meerstein not only leads the team in kills, but also has the best hitting percentage for players with at least 15 total attacks.

"It's by design," Pavlik explained of Meerstein's statistical dominance. "I look at Meers and I look at Keith, and as athletic as they are with the numbers they put up, we're going to try to get them the ball as much as possible."

No. 14 Ball State (3-0) will host the Lions at 7 tonight in what will be the first of three matches between the two teams this season.

Also kicking off the first of three matches against Penn State this season is IPFW (1-0), who will face the Lions at 7 p.m. tomorrow.