Mishka Levy has been outstanding for the Penn State women's volleyball team this season.
And for the loyal Penn State fans, they will get their first look at her and the rest of the No.2 Lady Lions (3-1) 7:30 p.m., tonight in Rec. Hall against Bucknell.
After dropping the first match of the season to the No.1 team in the land, UCLA, Penn State has rebounded for three straight wins and looks forward to playing in front of the Lion faithful.
"It's great to play in front of the home crowd and hear them get into it, even though I didn't play that much last year, it was great to be a part of it," sophomore middle hitter Robyn Guokas said.
When the Lions walk onto the newly furnished hardwood floor of Rec. Hall tonight, they will carry the longest home-winning streak in NCAA history.
Penn State has not lost at home in 80 games — it's a streak that dates back to Nov. 24, 1995 when Illinois defeated the Lions in five games.
And this year's team has no intention of ending it.
"I don't think any of us want to be the ones looked as the ones that ended it," sophomore setter Shannon Bortner said.
However if Penn State continues to bully its opponents like it did this weekend, the Lions will have no trouble tackling the mighty Bison. One of the keys to Penn State's success has come from Levy.
In her performances against Texas and Arkansas, Levy showed no signs of slowing down as she tallied 30 kills, while leading Penn State to a pair of victories.
"Mishka is just great," junior middle hitter Amanda Rome said. "Every time we need a kill or side out we go to Mishka. She is very similar to Lauren (Cacciamani) last year in terms of, if we needed a kill we could go to her and she would step up for us."
After playing matches in Gainesville and Austin these past two weekends, most of the Lions are glad to be back playing in Happy Valley for the next five matches.
"It's nice to be at home not just athletically but academically," Penn State junior middle hitter Nadia Edwards said. "And it will be nice to be playing in front of our crowd and having them cheer for us instead of against us."
While Bucknell does not necessarily present a threat to upset the Lions and attempt to put an end to the streak, Penn State knows there are still things that need work in preparation for the Big Ten this season.
"We are far from where we need to be, if we want to win the Big Ten title this year," Rome said. "We need to continue to work on ball control and play our tempo of game and hopefully we can work on that these next couple of games."
