As the volleyball touched the floor of the Rec Hall main gym, Minnesota players, both on the bench and on the court, leaped into the air in celebration.

It was not just a normal win. It was the end of something truly remarkable, and a proud Gophers squad took the credit for its demise.

After winning 87 straight matches at home, the Penn State women's volleyball team had finally lost. This weekend, the Nittany Lions get another crack at it when they travel to Minnesota. It is their chance to instill a similar feeling within the Gophers players that they experienced themselves five weeks ago.

That feeling was disappointment, one they weren't familiar with while on their home floor.

It was the first time any of the current players on the Penn State roster had been involved in a home defeat. Needless to say, they didn't like it.

"It was a new feeling," Lions junior Amanda Rome said.

But what was even more discouraging than the actual loss was the way it happened. After coming back from an early 7-0 deficit, Penn State was able to win Game 1. The next three games were totally the opposite, as the Lions gave up leads of 9-4, 10-3 and 9-4.

It dropped them to 0-3 in conference play, their worst start since joining it in 1991. And perhaps it is that record that becomes the bigger picture as the regular season winds down.

"It wasn't as much the streak as it was our Big Ten season," Rome said. "We realized that was another loss and we couldn't take too many more before the Big Ten Championship was out of our reach."

Despite the disappointment, Penn State coach Russ Rose said he saw a team that night that he has not seen too much of the rest of the season.

"I thought we competed hard in the Minnesota match," he said. "I thought we had opportunities. I'm sure they brought out the best of us in that match, and I'm not sure we've played at that same level consistently throughout the season."

Saturday night provides the opportunity for the Lions to get even.

But they don't want revenge as much as they want to continue their nine-game winning streak.

"Any team that beats you at home, you want to reciprocate the favor," Rome said. "But, I think we just want to keep the momentum going more than anything."

Rose added: "I never look at any match as revenge. There's no match that has any more value than the next one. But some of them have more significance as the season comes to an end."

But Saturday comes after Friday, and Friday night the Lions have their first test of the weekend — an underrated Iowa team.

"I would be negligent if I was to think that we're thinking about Minnesota right now," Rose said. "Iowa has been a surprise team. I'm a little bit more concerned right now about what to do with Iowa than with Minnesota."

The Hawkeyes followed Minnesota five weeks ago by giving Penn State quite a challenge as well. The Lions did win the match 3-1, but Iowa battled all the way and made it interesting before it ended.

It was then that Penn State got hot, bringing it within just two matches out of first place in the Big Ten.

With a victory over Iowa and first-place Minnesota this weekend, a familiar face at the front of the conference might just be making another appearance in that same spot.

"We have fought ourselves back into making a run towards the end," Rome said, "and I think it would be a huge momentum boost if we were to come out of this weekend 2-0."