The No. 6 Penn State men's volleyball team (3-2) will open its 2005 home slate against Rutgers-Newark (1-1) and No. 12 Ohio State (5-1) this weekend at Rec Hall.

The Nittany Lions have momentum from last weekend's two road victories in Indiana and are trying to benefit from their aggressive style of play.

"I like what I see with our personnel matchups, especially our physicality," Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said.

Defensively, Penn State has been consistently strong, averaging 8.71 digs and 3.21 blocks per game. Libero Gary Vogel has played solidly of late, recording 30 digs in the Lions' two matches last weekend.

That solid defense will be locked in on seasoned outside hitter Andrew Pink and his Rutgers-Newark team at 7 tonight in the South Gym of Rec Hall.

"Rutgers has everyone back from last year, except for their setter," Pavlik said. "He's a freshman still trying to figure out their offense. We'll look to capitalize on that. "Pink is going to get a lot of balls, and he's an excellent outside hitter. That's the guy we have to control in order to win."

On the attacking end, the Lions want to get their big hitters -- Alex Gutor, Matt Proper and co-captain Nate Meerstein -- as many touches as possible.

Gutor notched a career-high 18 kills and Meerstein tied a career high with 19 kills last Friday at Ball State.

This week in practice, the Lions have been working to improve their transition offense and passing in preparation for the 12th-ranked Buckeyes, who they defeated in preseason action in November.

"I get worried about passing, which at times can break down. We want to get that worked out immediately," Pavlik said.

Another area of concern is the health of co-captain Keith Kowal, who has been sidelined this week with a lower back injury. Pavlik is confident that Kowal will return to action. "I think Keith will be good to go. He's been progressing well and moving better as each day goes by," Pavlik said.

Tomorrow night's match against Ohio State will be televised live on CSTV to a national audience at 7 p.m. It will be the first of three matches between the two teams during the regular season.

When asked how the team will respond to the national spotlight, Pavlik coolly replied: "This team is at a point where it doesn't matter if the TV cameras are on; we are going to come out strong and play hard regardless of the situation.

--Mark Parzych

The Penn State women's gymnastics team has continually improved upon its scores each week. But it has only produced a 3-5 record.

"We work hard in the gym and our competition doesn't reflect that," junior Jennifer Orlando said.

The Nittany Lions get another chance this weekend to show what they are capable of in practice. At 2 p.m. tomorrow at Rec Hall they face Maryland, a team against whom they have a 5-1 all-time series lead. Penn State coach Steve Shephard will be making a few changes to the lineup this week. Freshman Lindsay Borkan will be back in the all-around competition after taking last week off. Joining her will be junior Meredith Hoover -- who has competed in the all-around every meet -- and freshman Kristal Uzelac, making her second appearance in all-around this season. Uzelac posted the Lions' highest all-around score of the season last weekend against Michigan.

Making first appearances of the season will be freshman Aslynn Satterfield, who will be competing in an exhibition format on vault, and sophomore Stephanie Sullivan, who will be in an exhibition on balance beam. Beam and bars are still two areas in which Shephard is hoping to erase some mistakes.

"Our mistakes hurt our average, which ultimately hurts our rankings," he said. "We are due to put it all together."

The Lions are currently ranked No. 19 in the recent GymInfo top 25 poll.

Penn State and the Terrapins last met in 2002, with Penn State coming out on top 195.800-194.075. Maryland is coming off of a win in its first home meet against Towson University. Today in practice, Penn State will have an intrasquad competition that will simulate a meet experience. It could help with confidence so the Lions will be able to put a solid meet together in Rec Hall.

"We're excited to be at home; it is nice that friends and family are able to see you," Uzelac said.

-- Dan Graybill