March 25, 2008

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (UWIRE) --

As his team prepares to finish the EIVA regular season, outside hitter Jay Stauffer reflected on another typical year of dominating conference play.

"We did what we needed to do to have the playoffs at our home gym," Stauffer said. "It's what usually happens for us, and anything less I think would be considered a failure."

The No. 1 Nittany Lions have already clinched homecourt advantage in next month's conference tournament, but they'll play one more conference match against Juniata (8-9, 4-4 EIVA) at 7 tonight at Memorial Gymnasium in Huntingdon, Pa. It will be the first match Penn State (21-1, 10-1) will play since knocking off West Coast power Long Beach State and reclaiming a share of the No. 1 national ranking.

Given the team's dominance of the EIVA in the last two decades, Penn State's 10-1 record comes as no surprise. The Lions have finished the conference's regular season either undefeated or with one loss in each of the last 15 years. The East Coast juggernaut has won the last 10 EIVA regular season titles.

This year, however, was different in the overpowering way Penn State clinched its regular season crown. The team won every game of every match against a conference opponent for the first two months of the season, and after taking its first 18 matches of the year before falling to George Mason, Penn State became a legitimate contender for a national championship.

"What happened with Mason just goes to show that you can't look past anyone," Murray said. "Whether you play Long Beach, George Mason, Juniata or any other team, every game is important.

"It doesn't matter who's on the other side of the net, you have to step onto the court and play your best game every time."

And so Penn State is set to conclude another year of conference play in typical EIVA fashion. Juniata, a small school with nothing more than a rivalry by proximity with Penn State, will host the No. 1 team in Memorial Gymnasium, in what Stauffer called a "high school-like" gym.

With environments like this, Stauffer said, it's easy for the home team to build momentum and feed off its home crowd long enough to make rallies. A quick start, he said, has been Penn State's key to squelching such challenges all year.

"When we get there, we need to get there early and get on top early," Stauffer said. "We have to let them know that we're taking control."

(C) 2008 Daily Collegian via UWIRE