The most important thing to come from this weekend is that the Lions have answered enough of the questions about their team to consider themselves ready for what could be one of the toughest matches of the season when Stanford storms into Rec Hall tonight at 7.
"We had a good weekend," said head coach Russ Rose. "It's always nice to win. But we'll find out more on Tuesday."
The Lions looked tentative on Friday night against Villanova in front of almost 5,000 fans. Because every side-out results in a point, players were wary of making mistakes. The Lions could not put away the Wildcats early, but finally won 30-24. Again in game two, Penn State allowed Villanova to stick around and won by five.
The Lions finally took control in game three, jumping out to a 9-1 lead and winning by 17.
That momentum carried through Saturday morning when the Lions hit .485 and swept the Loyola Greyhounds (30-13, 30-14, 30-16). Freshman Ashley Pederson, who saw significant playing time in all three matches, had 20 kills and hit .450.
Later that day, the defending ACC Champion North Carolina gave the Lions their first test of the season. The Tar Heels capitalized on inconsistency from Penn State and used the free scoring rally style play to their advantage.
The Lions rode Katie Schumacher (16 kills, six blocks) and captured game one 30-17.
In game two the teams traded points up to 28. The Heels got the next two points to hand the Lions their first defeat in a game at the Penn State Invitational since its inception in 1990.
"You always like to see how a team is going to respond to that," said Rose. "For some of the players that was a let down. They aren't accustomed to losing games at home."
The Tar Heels were more poised than the Lions early in the match.
"North Carolina has a fine team," Rose said. "They are a little bit more experienced, but we kept our heads and played hard."
The Lions captured the third game of the match 30-25 on the strength of seven kills by Nadia Edwards, including two key points to seal the win.
In game three the Heels once again got big points down the stretch and pulled out another two-point win.
"You look at those two games, and it's obvious we need to play better in tight matches," said Rose of his team's inability to get key points at the end of the game.
In the final game of the match, played to 15 points, the Lions finally looked confident. Mishka Levy, who had played sparingly all day, came in and recorded a key kill and service ace. After an attack error by Levy brought the Tar Heels within one (9-8), she got a beautiful set from Shannon Bortner and spiked one home. She later had a service ace to bring the score to 12-8 and the Lions rallied to win 15-9.
Levy finished with 18 kills and hit .361. She gave the Lions the ability to end plays quickly, which is more of an emphasis in rally scoring. However, coach Rose said that right now Hilary Sexton brings more to the team at the outside hitter position.
"Hilary does so much on defense with her athleticism," he said.
Bortner, in a battle with Jess Hayden for the setter position, dominated against the Heels, recording 67 assists and 24 digs, both team highs.
Schumacher finished with 24 kills, one shy of her career high. She was named Most Outstanding player and was joined on the All-Tournament team by middle blockers Edwards and Cara Smith.
After the win, the focus was on improving and beating Stanford.
"We need to talk more on the court and be more aware that every contact is important," Schumacher said. "We haven't got much time, though. We've got to get right back at it."
The Stanford Cardinal had an equally impressive weekend at the Jefferson Cup Tournament in Charlottesville, Va., where they went 3-0 including wins over No. 15 Minnesota and Virginia. The Lions have lost just two matches in their last 103 matches at Rec Hall.
"Stanford is one of the top teams in the nation," said Rose. "This is a great rivalry, and we'll see if we're as good as the polls say we are."
