It's Saturday night, Game 2 of the men's volleyball game between a solid squad in No. 14 Ball State (3-0, 0-0 MIVA) and a legitimate championship contender in the No. 6 Nittany Lions (1-1, 1-0 EIVA).

After dropping Game 1, the Lions have taken control of the match, leading Game 2 19-11. Ball State is forced to take its second and final timeout of the game.

After that timeout, Ball State wins eight of the next 10 points, highlighted by the Cardinals' Patrick Durbin netting three kills, and Ball State would go on to win that game 30-28.

Ball State would also end up sweeping the Lions 3-0, edging them in every game by two points (30-32, 28-30, 28-30).

That chain of events basically symbolized the Lions' entire night.

"I just thought that Ball State played at a higher level, when the points were really important for them," Lions head coach Mark Pavlik said. "It's easy to use the excuse that the offense isn't in sync yet, but, my God, we have four guys that have been out there."

"I expect much better than hitting .114 for Game 2 and .067 for Game 3."

The Lions were out-killed by the Cardinals (48-44), and the Cardinals also hit at a better percentage in the second and third games (.146 and .149).

Senior outside hitter and co-captain Matt Proper led the team in kills with 14, but it took 28 attempts and he had seven errors for a .250 percentage.

Middle hitter Nate Meerstein, who's also a co-captain, led the team in percentage with .263. He had seven kills. Alex Gutor also contributed 11 kills.

Games like this are even more frustrating for the seniors that know this is their last chance for a championship.

"We came out tonight, and it looked like guys wanted to play, for a little bit, until times got tough," Proper said.

Those kinds of lapses can't happen, especially against a team like the Cardinals that took full advantage when the game got tough.

Durbin torched the Lions defense all night, netting a game-high 16 kills at a .481 percentage. Middle attacker Matt McCarthy added 12 kills on a .455 clip.

The team knows this is a minor setback, but there is no time to wallow in it.

Today it travels to Hawaii for the Outrigger tournament where it has to rebound and get back on track on its season game plan: making the national championship.

"Part of being a national championship caliber team is that you can't disappear when you're needed the most," Pavlik said. "I think we're great frontrunners, but as soon as things start to go bad, everyone starts to push."

Even worse, Pavlik thinks that the team's early season play might give confidence to future opponents.

"What bothers me is at this point of the season, the word is, you can outwork the Nittany Lions," Pavlik said. "That's something that deep down these guys gotta respond to."

And they have to respond quickly, because, if not, the team's vacation in beautiful Honolulu will be a short one.