Professional sports franchises will often go through a rebuilding process, a season or two when the team does not plan to be competitive, but instead concentrates on developing a nucleus of young talent in the hopes of being competitive later.

Unfortunately, college teams do not have the luxury of rebuilding seasons. Players come and go frequently, making a "competitive later" mentality impossible.

The Penn State men's club volleyball team has a large reservoir of young talent, but cannot afford a season or two to develop it. The team's newcomers will have to mature quickly if they want to be competitive this weekend.

Tomorrow and Sunday, the team will be one of 48 participating in the 16th annual Spartan "Back to the Hardwood" Classic at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich.

"Our team has a lot of raw talent, but we're really inexperienced," said Andrew Elmore, the club president and third-year team member. "We're really starting from scratch again, bringing in a lot of new freshmen."

Tomorrow, the team's new talent will attempt to prove itself in an arena that calls itself the most prestigious and competitive club tournament in the country. The Classic's diverse field features each division of the armed forces, teams from as far as California and Florida, including members of four different club sports organizations.

Of course, just because the new team members are playing for the first time does not mean they are freshmen. Two of the team's older players, defensive specialist Aaron Wynkoop and hitter Nate Mountain, are in their debut season.

"The first time I played with the team, I was a little intimidated. The level of play was higher than I expected," Wynkoop said. "When you think about it, a lot of these guys were some of best players on their high school teams, so it makes sense."

Pennsylvania, considered a hotbed for high school men's volleyball, consistently produces some of the nation's top college recruits and best club players.

"We played at a pretty high competition level in high school, but I'd have to say that these kids can play better. They're more fundamentally solid, and better all-around athletes than most [high school] players, even on the best teams." Mountain said.

Despite the deep talent pool from which to recruit and the confidence of its players, Elmore thinks this weekend could be a reality check for the team, especially for the new guys.

"I know we can hang with them at this first tournament," he said, "but being as inexperienced as we are, it'll be an eye opener.

"We'll be competitive in all the games, it's just a matter of can we dig down and get those points when it really matters. Can the new guys adjust and really play at the college club level? There's a big difference between the college and the high school level. You can't just bang balls the way you did in high school, you've got to be a little smarter."

The team's new members are excited for this weekend, not only for their chance to prove themselves, but to compete on an entirely new level.

"I'm really excited to play with these guys," Mountain said. "It's great to play competitive ball with such talented players."