OK, let's indulge ourselves for a second. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Mike Lambert is thinking about making a comeback to the AVP.

Let's say he comes back at his best - he's the Mike Lambert of 2004-2006 before his injuries sidelined him. Now let's say Lambo went up against the Phil Dalhausser of today.

Who do you think would win that battle of the big guys?

Back in 2004 on the AVP Tour, there was one player that most agreed was a legend in the making and the heir to the throne of King of the Beach. Mike Lambert had won the title of Best Offensive Player, MVP and was half of the Team of the Year along with his partner, legend Karch Kiraly.

Lambert won four AVP events that year and went on to win 12 more - nine with Stein Metzger - between '05 and '07. He was a big man who could do it all and he appeared to be the future of the AVP and Olympic Beach Volleyball.

But it all started to unravel in 2007 when he fought through a knee injury. He had surgery in the fall of that year and after rehab, he re-injured it and had to undergo another surgery.

Though he and partner Stein Metzger had a great shot at the Beijing Olympics before the injury, the setback took them out of the running. Lambert missed most of the '08 season, but was planning to return for the latter half of '09 when he ruptured his Achilles while putting over a routine free ball for a European pro team.

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Penn State jumped three spots to No.6 in the Coaches Poll this week after taking down Long Beach. LBSU falls two spots to No. 8. The rest of the rankings remained for the most part unchanged.

Most of the top teams are taking this weekend off. So there will be no matches for Pepperdine, CSUN or UCLA this week. No. 1 Stanford should not have trouble with their weekend opponent Cal Baptist. But USC will take on BYU and Long Beach State will take on Hawaii, so keep an eye out for those match ups. Here are this week's games to watch:

Friday, March 19th

USC @ BYU

LBSU @ Hawaii

Saturday, March 20th

USC @ BYU

Long Beach State @Hawaii

Sunday, March 21st

Ohio State @ Penn State

Penn State's west coast swing included face offs with UCI, Long Beach State and BYU. The 9th ranked Nittany Lions won two out of the three matches, proving that they deserve to be ranked in the top 10, but still leaving questions as to where they should be placed.

Penn State just barely beat No. 11 UCI in five sets outscoring the Anteaters by only three points in the match. They then took care of No. 6 Long Beach State winning in three tight sets. Then they lost to No. 4 BYU in four sets. Seems they have some work to do to compete with the top teams, but they have the chops and could be a contender in the playoffs.

Other notables - it took No. 2 Pepperdine five sets to beat No. 10 UCSB, though they sent a message in set five, beating them 15-7. No. 7 USC split two matches with No. 5 Hawaii, both matches ended in four sets. We'll see if USC can stage a comeback after a rough mid-season stretch.