The No. 6 Penn State men's volleyball team recently enjoyed a 10-day layoff from match play but steps back on to the Rec Hall floor tonight.

The Nittany Lions (9-2, 5-0 EIVA) will return to action at 7 against Rutgers-Newark.

The break in the schedule was beneficial to the Lions, as the they are now healthy for the first time in weeks.

Already faced with the minor aches and pains associated with regular season play, the team was also battling the flu. Thanks to an extended weekend off of practice the Lions return to play with a clean bill of health.

"We had a lot of people that were sick with the flu a little bit," setter Luke Murray said. "We got some people who are starting to recover a little bit. We hadn't really had that much time off up until then, so I think it helped a lot."

While there's a good chance the Lions could have played on, chances are they would have been doing so without leading killer Alex Gutor.

"We had a lot of guys that were sick," Gutor said. "Myself, I was sick. I was sick the whole last week. A lot of kids were either getting over it or getting sick. [The break from play and practice] really helped us to recover fully health-wise."

Now, with good health on their side, the Lions' undivided attention is now focused on Rutgers-Newark.

The Scarlet Raiders (2-14, 0-6 EIVA) have suffered through a slow start, but are coming off of a loss to No. 7 Ohio State in which they kept the score close throughout.

"I think they're saying, 'Look, we can play that well. We can steal a game from Penn State. We can put them in a situation where they start to press. You know, if we could beat Penn State at their place that makes our season,' " Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik said.

"I think those are always dangerous teams to face, because anything like that can get them started on a roll. You figure, the time of the year you want to get good is the end of the year."

In order to come away from the Rutgers-Newark match with a win, Penn State will have to keep its unforced errors down, in effect not shortening the games and making it easier for Rutgers-Newark to leave Rec Hall with the upset.

More importantly, though, the Lions must contain the Scarlet Raiders' star outside hitter Eric Honsberger, who ranks third nationally in kills with 5.78 per game.

"Eric [Honsberger] is a good player," Pavlik said. "He's going to get his kills. Hopefully we can block a couple, we can dig a couple and reverse the point and make it work for us."