National exposure or relative seclusion, Main Gym or South Gym of Rec Hall, the No. 6 Penn State men's volleyball team showed this weekend that it comes to play, regardless of how many people are watching.

The Nittany Lions (5-2, 1-0 EIVA) beat Rutgers-Newark 3-1 (30-19, 28-30, 30-19, 30-24) in the South Gym on Friday. Penn State then defeated No. 12 Ohio State 3-1 (30-20, 22-30, 30-21, 31-29) on Saturday with an emotional and emphatic finish in front of more than 500 people, as well as a live national television audience.

Both matches saw the Lions fall in the second game; both matches saw coach Mark Pavlik's team rise with a passion after the break between the second and third games.

"We played some pretty outstanding volleyball when we absolutely had to," Pavlik said.

Against the Scarlet Knights, junior Matt Proper and sophomore Alex Gutor set new career highs in kills with 22 and 20, respectively. Just 24 hours later, Proper would tie his new mark against the Buckeyes (6-2), and Gutor eclipsed his own with 23 kills, good enough for the team's season high. Gutor, Proper and Pavlik credited setter Dan O'Dell for the impressive hitting numbers.

"Alex and Matt had a great offensive weekend from the antenna. At times this weekend, I thought the offense was run better than Danny's ever run it before," Pavlik said.

The offense, however, was hardly the strongest part of Penn State's game. Led by co-captain Nate Meerstein's nine blocks, the Lions recorded 18 team blocks against Rutgers-Newark.

"We may have set a four-game match record with 18 blocks, but I think we can be even better. It wasn't really surprising," Pavlik said Friday.

Little did the coach know the Lions would show that blocking improvement the next night with a 19.5-block performance, one in which the blocking game bailed Penn State out of a dangerous situation. Deep into game four, the Buckeyes led 29-24 and were on the verge of pushing the Lions to a fifth game. O'Dell and Meerstein rose to the occasion, literally, as the setter collected three blocks, and Meerstein got in on two before the Buckeyes took a timeout to plan a way to fend off the Lion comeback. All the while, sophomore Aaron Smith kept serving with the knowledge that just one error on his part would give the game to the Buckeyes.

At this point Penn State could see the pendulum of momentum swing toward its side, and the Lions were poised to end the match in four.

"That's the thing about volleyball -- it's so much momentum," Proper said. "You can see a couple points like that, and the momentum swings in our favor. You could see it in their eyes, like, 'Wow, if we can't score once in four tries, then how are we gonna finish the game off?' "

A Penn State triple-block by O'Dell, Meerstein and Gutor tied the game at 29. An O'Dell set found Gutor in perfect position to finish the job two points later, capping off a 7.5-block game and a seven-point rally for the Lions.

"If you're a good blocking team, you're never out of a game, and I think we proved that," Pavlik said.

Back in action

After sitting out Friday's match with an injured back, co-captain Keith Kowal returned to the court against Ohio State, where he led the team in hitting percentage while still in pain.

Kyle Masterson filled in for the All-American against Rutgers-Newark, recording six blocks and three kills.