With five players redshirting this year, the No. 5 Penn State men's volleyball team is not that deep. Each starting player might have one backup for his position, leaving the starting lineup to shoulder much of the pressure.

The starting lineup, however, has done a good job shouldering the pressure this season but in a non-conventional way. If one player is having a bad match, another will come out with a great performance and will lead the team to victory.

In the past two matches, senior Alex Gutor and sophomore Max Holt each played poorly at times and then stepped up his games.

In each match, the Nittany Lions (7-2, 3-0 EIVA) pulled out convincing victories, allowing head coach Mark Pavlik to breathe much easier.

The match against Ball State (7-5, 2-0 MIVA) on Friday was another standout match for Gutor and a less than impressive one for Holt. Gutor came into the night eighth in the country with 4.88 kills per game and had led the team in kills for five of its eight matches. In the two previous matches, however, he had not led the team in kills and was looking a little out of sorts.

As the team walked off the floor, Gutor had racked up 18 kills and hit with a .483 clip. It was his serving that really stood out, something that hasn't been too prevalent in Gutor's game this season. He had five aces and only one service error. With these aces, he has 70 career aces, good enough for ninth on the Penn State all-time service ace list.

"We worked really hard in practice on serving and paid attention to some of the things we need to get better," Gutor said. "Obviously, serving is one of them. I think we did a great job serving today."

With Gutor playing well, the rest of the Lions did not have to do much in their most recent 3-0 win against the Cardinals (30-19, 30-25, 30-22). Holt, however, had a typical night from the service line, tallying four aces. His five service errors overshadowed this number, as did his .176 hitting percentage.

"I got to get better, all around, especially hitting tonight," Holt said. "I'm not used to their high float, and I didn't really adjust."

The weekend prior, however, against George Mason in particular, Gutor did not play like he normally does, and it was Holt who really shined. With Gutor ending the night with a negative hitting percentage, it was the .700 clip and 15 kills of Holt that really lead the Lions to a four game win.

"He's been kinda streaky all weekend," Pavlik said. "It's like he got off to a horrible start and never recovered. It happens. When you can win and Alex can hit negative, you're doing well."

Even though there are only four players on the bench and the depth chart looks very weak, the versatility of the starting lineup leaves Penn State in a good position for the rest of the season. A small slump from one player could lead to an outstanding performance from another.

With a six-game winning streak and the top spot in the EIVA on the line, the Lions will go on the road this weekend to battle two EIVA foes. The only thing Pavlik has to worry about, however, is which player will slump and which one will have a standout match.