My volleyball education began in January.

Class has been in session Tuesday and Thursday mornings in my actual volleyball class, taught by Penn State men's head coach Mark Pavlik.

Class has been conducted in the South Gym of Rec Hall during long practices, where Lions assistant coach Dennis Hohenshelt took me to the whiteboard and drew up schemes and plays to show me what once-mysterious things like "go's," "fours" and "reds" were.

Each week's lesson culminates with a post-match interview or telephone call with Pavlik and whichever players will lend the most insight into the weekend's events.

Field trips have taken me to Newark, N.J., and Fairfax, Va., where I got to spend candid moments with some of the least-known, but most successful student athletes at Penn State.

There are some lessons that are boring (i.e. almost anything involving a match against an EIVA opponent), some that are painful and some that are pretty ridiculous.

Here's a brief sampling of lessons learned from Volleyball 101, a course in which I, alone, have been enrolled for the entirety of this semester, with the Penn State men's volleyball program as my instructor.

-- Wearing jeans and a sweatshirt for a road trip on the team bus is like wearing a tuxedo to the beach: you feel overdressed and out of place.

-- While sitting at a table with Keith Kowal (6-foot-7), Nate Meerstein (6-foot-9) and Dan O'Dell (6-foot-7), simply sitting up straight will not balance out the height difference.

-- When diving for a ball, always keep your chest up. Otherwise, your chin will require a formal introduction to the wooden floor (trust me, those two are better off not knowing each other).

-- He who holds up the bus will not be treated kindly. Pavlik's 3-year-old son, Jack, received an assault of boos upon boarding the bus after Saturday's match.

-- When lacking in volleyball skills, the serve is the easiest area to correct.

-- There are few situations with this team that cannot be (and are not) made into jokes.

-- Penn State is the lone contender in the sea of men's volleyball mediocrity east of the Rockies.

Although this may seem like a comprehensive men's volleyball education, it is far from complete. That final lesson is problematic for both student and teacher. I have never seen an elite West Coast team play. I've also never seen the No. 3 Lions (27-3, 12-0 EIVA) play a match that was ever in serious doubt. The team is 1-3 against the top opponents this season, and no one is quite sure what to expect when those thunderous serves come at the Lions in the NCAA tournament on May 5.

"The good news is the regular season is over," Pavlik said to his team after Saturday's win over George Mason. "But now we've got bigger fish to fry," he concluded, with a chorus of "hell yeahs" backing him up.

But will Penn State improve its passing and be the one doing the frying, or will Pepperdine, UCLA or Long Beach State be holding the pan come May?

For that question, both student and teacher are currently looking for answers.