A little more than a month after opening its season with a win against Ball State, the No. 5 Penn State men's volleyball team was given the chance to measure its progress this season, as the two teams faced-off again Friday.

In the rematch, the outcome was never in doubt as the Lions (7-2, 3-0 EIVA) took the lead early before easily dispatching the Cardinals, 3-0 (30-19, 30-25, 30-22).

"I'm really pleased from the standpoint that Wednesday and Thursday they put together back-to-back practices that were awfully good," Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik said. "It was nice to see it translate in the game. We just seemed like we grabbed the momentum and we came out to good starts."

After struggling at with slow starts and having to battle back, the Lions have seemingly kicked the habit aside and have now won six consecutive matches.

As has been the case in the majority of their contests, the Lions' offense was led by Alex Gutor (18 kills, .483 hitting percentage) and Matt Anderson (11 kills, .450 hitting percentage). Middle hitters Max Holt and Max Lipsitz contributed seven kills apiece as Penn State posted a higher team hitting percentage than it was able to in its season opener, improving from .323 to .376.

"We've made good strides. Certainly the offense and [setter Luke Murray's] comfort with it. I think it's just exponentially increased in the first, what is this, the 9th match," Pavlik said. "From January 12th until now, I think that's been a very positive increase in our offense."

Now, with the team on the same page and with Murray growing more comfortable with every match, the offense has the potential to be run much more efficiently.

"I'm much more comfortable with it. I think that's the most significant thing," Murray said. "Everybody else is much more comfortable where I'm gonna put the ball. They know exactly where the ball is gonna be. I know where I need to put the ball to for them to get a great swing."

The team's blocking has improved alongside its offense.

Against Ball State on Friday, Penn State posted 10 team blocks, with Holt contributing a season-high six block assists and Murray contributing five of his own.

"Our block I thought was pretty good tonight," Pavlik said. "I didn't think we were trying to do too much with it, and I think if we can continue that we'll be in pretty good shape against teams that are going to challenge our block a little bit more than this team did."

The team's service game has also begun to turn a corner, as the Lions recorded 10 aces, including five by Gutor and four by Holt.

"Our serving continues to show flashes of being a weapon for us," Pavlik said. "We're doing things with our serve right now, that if we can continue to do, it's gonna pay off in April and May."