Last week's trip to California didn't go quite as those associated with the No. 8 Penn State men's volleyball team would have liked. The No. 8 Nittany Lions headed to the Los Angeles area to face stiff opposition and were sent back to Happy Valley after suffering two convincing losses.

Last week, No. 2 University of California-Irvine and No. 14 Southern California each swept Penn State (11-6, 8-0 EIVA). The losses certainly weren't welcomed, but for Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik, things could be worse.

Instead of allowing his team to dwell on the losses, Pavlik's plan is to use the experience gained by playing some of the nation's best to help the Lions down the stretch, possibly in the Final Four.

"We're going to come back and tinker with some things and we'll be better," Pavlik said. "[The trip] wasn't a total disappointment."

UC-Irvine and USC are the last Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) teams the Lions will face until a possible showdown with the MPSF representative in the NCAA Tournament, should the Lions continue to sweep through EIVA competition. The MPSF is regarded by many as the strongest conference in the nation, as is evident by its representation in the national top-15 poll. Currently, eight teams in the top 10 hail from the MPSF.

"Obviously we wanted to do our best against those teams," senior co-captain Matt Proper said, "because we only have a few testing blocks against those teams and those are some of them."

The California teams might be viewed as "testing blocks" because of their relentless nature.

"Those teams don't let you slack off for four or five points," Pavlik said. "They're gonna make you work."

UC-Irvine was led by the trio of Matt Webber, Jayson Jablonsky and David Smith. The three combined for 49 kills, eight digs and three blocks to power past the Lions.

Penn State received support from Proper, senior co-captain Nate Meerstein and freshman outside hitter Matt Anderson, but their numbers paled in comparison to the Anteaters' stars. Though they led the Lions, they only tallied 29 kills, six digs and eight blocks. The Lions hit well as a team (.345), but were outdone by a stellar hitting effort from UC-Irvine (.511).

Against USC, Proper and Meerstein starred again for the Lions, but as a team Penn State (.240) was out-hit by the Trojans (.323). The Trojans, like the Anteaters, exploited some of the Lions' weaknesses, particularly their inability to maintain a consistent output of high-energy play -- their inability to hit a "fifth gear" needed to overcome tougher opponents.

"We gotta find another gear to take us ahead a little bit," Pavlik said. "We gotta practice and hit that fifth gear to find ways we can point-score against those [top-level] teams."

Despite the passing of the MPSF portion of the schedule, Penn State is still awaiting a stretch of EIVA competition before closing with four consecutive Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) teams: No. 11 Ohio State, Lewis, No. 12 Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne and No. 15 Ball State. After the facing the MIVA squads, the Lions shift their focus to postseason play and the EIVA Tournament.

"I'm gonna worry about trying to make us better as we move through the season," Pavlik said. "We move through our EIVA schedule, then we've got some MIVA teams, then to the EIVA Tournament. They'll be enough to keep our hands full."

Even though the Lions returned to Rec Hall with a snapped 10-match win streak and two more losses on their record, they're using the experience gained through playing the second- and 14th-ranked teams in the country to help them mature. Experiencing the high-tempo style of play early enough in the season so that the Lions can recognize their weaknesses may prove invaluable come Final Four time.

"We'd like to have more tough matches like that, but on the same hand we have a little under two months [left]," Proper said. "We've got time to fix the mistakes we've found in this past week and identify what went wrong and fix that by mid-May."