Put away the toys. Pack up the board games. After completing a thorough drubbing of EIVA opponents New York University and Springfield at Rec Hall this weekend, the child's play is over for the No. 4 Penn State men's volleyball team. The Nittany Lions (14-2, 5-0 EIVA) begin practice today with three elite teams in their sights, and a growing list of fallen squads in their rearview mirror.

The Lions beat NYU (30-19, 30-13, 30-21) on Friday, then put Springfield in its place (30-23, 30-20, 30-27) on Saturday. Not only did the visiting teams fail to present a challenge, they also failed to present even one imposing nickname between the two. The Violets of NYU and the Pride of Springfield were no trouble for the Lions -- winners of 14 straight matches and 24 straight games.

"The thing that I liked was that in every game we had a stretch where we said 'OK, it's time to take control,' " Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik said. "And we never dropped off from that point."

That point, in some games, came quite early on. Against NYU, Penn State hit an astronomical .561 and recorded an eyebrow-raising 20 team blocks. In just two games against the Violets, co-captain and reigning AVCA national player of the week Keith Kowal collected a weekend-high eight blocks. Kowal hit .625 for the weekend, while fellow middle hitter and co-captain Nate Meerstein hit .733.

Every Penn State player saw significant playing time over the homestand. Kyle Masterson took advantage, recording 13 kills on .750 hitting.

Now the Lions must prepare for this week's visit to the University of California-San Diego, No. 10 UC-Irvine and then top-ranked UCLA. It is more likely than not that Penn State will drop games during its West Coast swing, but Pavlik is confident his team will adjust to and regroup from any adversity on the courts of the Golden State.

"We've been in that situation, but not in a month or so," Pavlik said of being down in a match. "But that's why we went to the Outrigger, had USC come in, played BYU again."

The second match against Brigham Young, on Feb. 5, was the last time the Lions lost a game. They dropped the first two, then regrouped and came back to beat the Cougars in five, avenging their last loss, a Jan. 6 five-setter.

Still, despite the 14-match run, the Lions feel they must prove they belong at the same level as the best from out west.

"We want to prove to other teams that we're at least No. 4, if not better," Meerstein said.

Kowal says the Lions are not intimidated by what awaits them on the other side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, that this squad has played against elite teams before. The All-American said the Lions must focus more on preparation than expectation.

That preparation will come in practice this week, as the coaching staff will change things up a bit.

"We'll have some switching around so that maybe [Matt] Proper has to hit against [Kowal and Meerstein], or they'll hit against each other," Pavlik said. "We'll get them used to having a big guy in front of them ... somebody that's 6-6 and can play the ball, too."