Team draws on strong family support

"These people have grown used to taking their sons to tournaments; they're just kind of volleyball nomads, where it's like nothing for them to get in the car," Lions coach Mark Pavlik said. "I think more and more of that is happening because more and more kids are playing club volleyball."

A classic example of this happened last weekend in Fairfax, Va., where the Lions (27-3, 12-0 EIVA) visited George Mason. For 30 minutes following the match, family members of at least four players came onto the court to chat with the team. One freshman's mother and another freshman's sister spent much of this time playing with Pavlik's 3-year-old son, Jack, who also made the trip.

The travel for families will be light for the next three matches, though, as No. 3 Penn State hosts the EIVA tournament. The Lions will be looking for their seventh consecutive EIVA championship, and Harvard is not a team that will keep the Penn State program up worrying at nights.

Not that they need the extra help, but the Lions take comfort in knowing they can count on family to make the trip to Rec Hall.

"My parents come to all the home games and as many away games as they can," co-captain Nate Meerstein said. "It definitely helps -- you like having them there every weekend."

In addition to the usuals in attendance, Penn State hopes to draw a much larger crowd than usual because of the fans coming to State College for the Blue-White football game.

Meerstein and Co. are looking forward to the crowd, if not the match itself.

"It definitely helps, especially in the case that we're playing Harvard," he said. "It's not a totally big match, but one we should definitely win, so I think if the crowd is big and loud we'll definitely get more into it."