As the unofficial news broke, Mark Pavlik's face began to shrink, as a steadily growing smile began to overcome it.

Following Friday's Blue-White intrasquad scrimmage, the Penn State men's volleyball coach received the news and made his way from the court of Rec Hall, upstairs to a fax machine. Upon arriving upstairs, his eyes immediately lit up like a kid's on Christmas morning. Lying in the tray was a stack of 11 papers, and now the news was official -- a third player signed a letter of intent with Penn State.

"We got him," Pavlik said gleefully, as he gazed over Jason Ambrose's National Letter of Intent to join the men's volleyball team next season.

The Barrington, Ill., native joins Max Lipsitz of Williamsville, N.Y., and Alan Mars of Rochester, N.Y.

The three who signed were the key recruits the coaching staff had targeted.

"We think they're pretty good players, we're happy they looked at Penn State," Pavlik said. "From what we see with their families and the way they've been coached, they're going to make positive contributions in their career here."

The 6-foot-5 Ambrose is from Barrington High School which is where current Nittany Lions middle hitter Kyle Masterson is also from.

Other then Ambrose's connection to Masterson, bloodlines run from the current Penn State roster to another recruit.

Lipsitz played club volleyball with current freshman outside hitter Matt Anderson, on the Eden Mizuno Volleyball Club. The Eden club team is comprised of the "top 10 positional players in Western [N.Y.]," according to its Web site, EdenVBC.org.

"It was awesome, I mean, it was fun to be able to play with someone as good as Matty," Lipsitz said.

"I think I learned a lot from him, and I think it will be fun to play with him gain at Penn State. I think he's a great player.

"It made everything more comfortable. Knowing that he was there made it more comfortable."

Lipsitz, at 6-foot-7, is a projected middle hitter who was recruited by University of California-Long Beach, UC-Santa Barbara, Cal State-Northridge, University of Southern California and Pepperdine.

Lipsitz -- who was All-East Coast last year with Eden and was MVP of his high school junior and senior year -- committed to Penn State on Wednesday. He is also a member of the National Honor Society (NHS).

Also committing on Wednesday was the 6-foot-7 outside or middle hitter Mars.

He was captain of his high school team, Gates Chili in Rochester, N.Y., during his junior and senior seasons. Mars -- who is a member of NHS, carrying a 96 average -- was named first-team All-Monroe (N.Y.) County as a junior and senior.

For Mars, the decision was heavily based on nature of the coaching staff.

"Well, right off the bat they were real friendly, didn't have problem answering any of my questions," Mars said. "In fact, all of my questions were answered to the full. ... [Pavlik] basically treated me like I was a member of the team. He's a real nice coach."

Mars signed Wednesday and was also recruited by University of California-Irvine and University of California-Santa Barbara.

"It was a pretty easy choice for me," Mars said. "It was the coaches -- I love the coaches. The players are great, the campus is great."

The team, which has 16 players on the current roster, will lose five to graduation this year.

In addition to the three signed recruits, Pavlik said he will fill a few more spots with preferred walk-on players.