The Penn State men's volleyball team is riding a wave of momentum into this weekend's Penn State Invitational.

Last Saturday, the Nittany Lions triumphed against defending national champions Brigham Young to win the Hall of Fame Classic championship in an intense five-game showdown.

In addition, junior opposite Matt Proper has been racking up accolades like it's his job. Not only was Proper named EIVA Player of the Week last week and awarded the Most Valuable Player honor at the Hall of Fame Classic, this week he has been named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I-II men's volleyball National Player of the Week.

Penn State coach Mark Pavlik will lead his fourth-ranked Lions (7-2) into battle against two different teams of Trojans this weekend at Rec Hall.

Tonight, the Lions square off against the Mt. Olive College Trojans (0-1), a first-year varsity program. Tomorrow night, however, Penn State will face the more seasoned Trojans of Southern California (3-9), who are looking for their first win in three matches.

Coincidentally, Mt. Olive is coached by Sasha Gutor, father of Penn State outside hitter Alex Gutor.

Volleyball at Mt. Olive was a club sport until a month ago, and coach Gutor had only a few months to compile his varsity squad.

Among other things, the Lions will have a clear height advantage over their opponent.

"You can never take any team lightly, but it'd be safe to say there will be some physical mismatches. Our guys will need to make sure they execute everything correctly," Pavlik said.

On the other hand, USC is an experienced team that, like Penn State, has faced many of the top-ranked teams in the country.

The Trojans have physical players capable of putting up solid offensive numbers.

"Against a team like USC, if you get an open chance and don't take advantage, there's no guarantee you'll get a second chance to rally back because they are big hitters," Pavlik said.

Penn State will look to setter Dan O'Dell to set up hitters Proper, Gutor and co-captains Nate Meerstein and Keith Kowal to score points.

"This week we've been putting emphasis on our passing and decision making on offense," Pavlik said.

"Our big guys up front will have to get some good swings on the attack. We need to make them pay if they can't put a ball away on us."

Defensively, Penn State will rely on its blocking game. Although the Lions were outblocked last weekend by BYU, 11.5-11.0, it was only the second time this season it has happened. Pavlik noted that consistent blocking and getting more digs are the keys to keeping the solid USC team in check.

"Our defense will have to adjust to a harder-hitting, more physical team in USC. If we play like I know we can, it gives our offense a chance to side out more often, and we have to [side out] at a very high level against the better teams to win," Pavlik said.

However, if the Lions are increasingly dominant further into the match, as they were in the comeback victory against BYU last weekend, it could be lights out for both Trojan teams.

"Hopefully we keep elevating our performance as the match wears on and take advantage of their weaknesses. We're in great shape, we're confident and we keep improving the more we play," Pavlik said.