Last time a team from California faced off against the Penn State men's volleyball team at Rec Hall, the Nittany Lions were gracious hosts. California-Irvine came to Happy Valley during the fall, and the Lions took the team out to a football game and tailgate at Beaver Stadium.

This weekend, when Long Beach State rolls in, the story will be a little different.

"We're gonna take Long Beach out, stick them in the parking lot at Beaver Stadium and tell them that there's a tailgate. Let them freeze," Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik joked.

This weekend, No. 12 Penn State (2-4, 2-0 EIVA) will host the Penn State Invitational tournament.

Making their way to Rec Hall this weekend are Long Beach State, Juniata and Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.

At 8 tonight, the Lions take on EIVA rival Juniata (3-1, 1-0 EIVA) and at 8 p.m. tomorrow they are set to take on No. 3 Long Beach State (9-1).

"We're looking forward to coming to a tournament that's well-run, with IPFW and Juniata. And we're looking forward to coming out and competing," Long Beach State men's volleyball coach Alan Knipe said.

The tournament kicks off at 4 p.m. today, when Long Beach State takes on IPFW. In the nightcap, Juniata, who is only hitting at a .235 clip, takes on the Lions.

The in-state rival is led by junior middle hitter Jeremy Brandt, who has notched 40 kills while hitting .371, and should be able to bring a raucous fan base with it.

"Juniata will have a ton of people here," Pavlik said. "I guess they put together some type of alumni function over at the All-American Ale House for a bunch of them coming over here. I'm sure they'll be a very vocal following for the Juniata team."

Long Beach State probably won't have quite the following that Juniata will bring, but it should make up for the lack of support with some of the nation's best volleyball players.

"Offensively they do a real nice job and defensively they're so disciplined and so tenacious that you'll see them chase balls that shoot out to the parking lot," Pavlik said. "I'm just really impressed with their desire to get after it on defense."

The 49ers are an offensive juggernaut, hitting .323 as a team, and are led by 6-foot-8 senior middle hitter Duncan Budinger and senior outside hitter Robert Tarr.

Budinger is hitting .509 with 95 kills, and Tarr is attacking at .323 with 203 kills.

Setting both of the two up is what may possibly be the nation's best setter in Tyler Hildebrand. Hildebrand is responsible for 494 of Long Beach State's 551 assists so far this season, while still managing to kill 25 balls at a .333 clip.

Long Beach State is coming off of its first and only loss of the season to No.

1 Pepperdine, 3-1, on Jan. 26. Since the loss, the 49ers have gone 2-0, defeating USC and California-Santa Barbara, 3-1 and 3-0, respectively.

"I think you can take a lot of positive out a loss," Knipe said. "I definitely think we saw some things we wanted to get better at. I feel like we had opportunities to win that we didn't take advantage of even though we didn't play one of our better matches, and I think Pepperdine had something to do with that, because they're a good team."

Penn State defeated NYU last weekend, after regrouping following four back-to-back losses for the first time since 2000.

The team is looking for a winning mindset to take effect.

"There is significance, but it's internal more than anything else," Pavlik said. "Nobody's won a national championship in January and February in all the years I've been here.

"You want to get out there and play with the pride, with a passion, with an energy to carry over from match to match to match."