STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Feb. 6, 2003 - The eighth-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team (4-2, 3-0 EIVA Tait) welcomes Rutgers-Newark, Springfield and seventh-ranked Lewis into Happy Valley for the Penn State Invitational this weekend, Feb. 7-8. Rutgers-Newark and Lewis open play on Friday at 5:30 p.m., before Penn State and Springfield square off at 8:00 p.m. On Saturday night, Rutgers-Newark and Springfield meet in the early match with the Nittany Lions and Lewis following at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets for the event each night are $4 for adults and $2 for youth, students and senior citizens. Groups of 10 or more will be admitted for $1 each. Fans wearing their "Coast Wars" t-shirts from Penn State's fall matches with Pepperdine will be admitted free.

Penn State is in the midst of a four-game winning streak after defeating EIVA-foe Juniata in three games Tuesday night. Senior Carlos Guerra (Tamaulipus, Mexico) led the Lions with 12 kills in two games while junior Ricky Mattei (San Juan, Puerto Rico) posted a match-high seven digs and junior Keith Kowal (Reading, Pa.) recorded a match-high five blocks.

For the season, freshman Matt Proper (Guys Mills, Pa.) and junior Norm Keil (St. James, N.Y.) lead the team, hitting .556 and .364 respectively. Guerra and senior Zeljko Koljesar (Kitchener, Ontario) head up the offense, averaging 4.24 and 3.59 kills per game, respectively. Junior Nate Matthews (Rochester, N.Y.) leads the offense with 12.94 assists per game while freshman Dan O'Dell (Rochester, N.Y.) has dished out 12.83 assists per game in the six games he has played. Mattei leads the defense with 2.67 digs per game and Kowal sits atop the blocking chart with 1.33 blocks per game. As a team, Penn State is hitting .291 with 15.48 kills per game, 8.67 digs per game, 1.40 service aces per game and 2.60 blocks per game.

Springfield comes into the weekend with a 7-2 overall record and a 3-0 mark in the EIVA Hay division. The team is attacking at a .264 clip with 14.40 kills per game, 1.3 service aces per game, 9.4 digs per game and 2.9 blocks per game.

Lewis enters Friday night's match with a 5-2 overall mark and a 2-0 record in the MIVA. Junior Fabiano Barreto leads the team with 4.61 kills per game while Jos¨¦ Martins leads the offense with 13.04 assists per game. Gustavo Meyer heads up the defense with 3.67 digs per game and also leads the blocking front with 1.33 blocks per game. As a team, Lewis is attacking at a .313 clip with 16.17 kills per game, 1.04 aces per game, 10.28 digs per game and 2.46 blocks per game.

Rutgers-Newark brings a 2-1 overall mark into the weekend along with a 2-0 EIVA Tait division record. Danko Iordanov is averaging 4.60 kills per game while hitting .375. Aleks Ondelj, the 2002 EIVA Newcomer of the Year, directs the Scarlet Raider offense with 11.58 assists per game while also recording a team-high 1.75 digs per game. Ben Bostaph, a 6-10 sophomore middle hitter, leads the team in blocking with 0.90 blocks per game. As a squad, Rutgers-Newark is hitting .269 with 13.42 kills per game, 1.42 aces per game, 6.50 digs per game and 2.33 blocks per game.

Please visit Penn State's official athletic website, www.GoPSUsports.com for updated statistics and news on the Nittany Lion men's volleyball team and Penn State's 28 other sports.