Not only did the Penn State men's volleyball team defeat two tough opponents on its home courts this weekend, it prevailed over fatigue as well.

The Nittany Lions (3-2) arrived in Muncie, Ind., early Friday morning after a 12-hour trip.

Later that day, the seventh-ranked Lions outlasted No. 14 Ball State 3-2 (28-30, 21-30, 30-25, 30-23, 25-23) in their fourth straight five-game match.

"The guys overcame a lot," Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said. "We weren't real sharp and played like we didn't have a good night's sleep against Ball State. Both teams made a lot of errors, and it wasn't a very well-played match. But, we managed to right the ship, gain our rhythm back and block more balls."

The Lions used serving and blocking skills to pull off the win after dropping the first two games. Penn State served up six aces and had 14.5 team blocks, led by co-captain Nate Meerstein's season-high-tying nine.

Meerstein also tied a career high with 19 kills and Alex Gutor had a career-high 18. Setter Dan O'Dell had 57 assists, his second-highest total of the season, and libero Gary Vogel tied the Penn State record for digs in a match with 17.

However, the road trip was not yet complete. The Lions moved on to Fort Wayne, Ind., to face Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne Saturday.

"The biggest question was: Were we going to have enough left in us after the five-gamer [Friday] to beat IPFW, who is notoriously tough at home," Pavlik said.

The Lions were clearly more rested and came out firing on all cylinders. They defeated IPFW 3-1 (30-19, 30-17, 28-30, 30-24) and dominated on both sides of the ball.

"We came out strong in games one and two but started to take things for granted in game three," Pavlik said.

"We allowed them to believe that they could beat us in the third game, but we regained control in the final game."

Penn State outblocked IPFW, 12.5-6, led by Meerstein with six. Offensively, the Lions hit .360 for the match with 65 total kills. Matt Proper had a season-high 19 kills, and the Lions had five service aces. Vogel had a match-high 13 digs, his fourth time in double digits this season.

"Things were working against us, but the guys dug down deep and found something inside themselves to make sure we keep doing the things we need to do to be successful," Pavlik said.