After the first two games of the Penn State women's volleyball team's showdown last night with Stanford, a titanic clash between superpowers of the east and west seemed to be in the making.

After the last two, the No. 4 Nittany Lions left Rec Hall with their first loss of the season, knowing that a lot would have to change if they wanted to be a factor in the race for the national championship.

"We need a better effort," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said. "We didn't execute well. Stanford has a very fine team, but we had a pretty good idea of what they were going to do, and we couldn't stop it."

The Lions battled the No. 10 Cardinal to a draw in the first two games, winning the first game 30-28, and narrowly losing in the second 30-26.

Things weren't the same after the break, however. In Game 3, Stanford destroyed the Lions 30-16, and in the fourth, they blew a 12-7 lead by allowing the Cardinal a 15-1 run. Stanford eventually won the game 30-23 to clinch the match 3-1. It was the Lions first non-conference loss at Rec Hall since 1993— a span of 69 matches— and just their third total in their last 104 at home.

"After the break we just came out flat," senior outside hitter Katie Schumacher said. "We had three or four hitting errors in a row, and the rally score kills you when you get down to a good team like that."

Stanford, which already had a win over then No. 15 Minnesota under its belt, went to 4-0 on the season with last night's victory.

"Penn State is one of the teams I have the most respect for," Stanford coach John Dunning said. "They never lose here. We're lucky to walk away with a win.

"We didn't have a great year last year. It's hard to believe how well we're bouncing back. With these two wins, we couldn't get a better start."

The Lions came back from a 16-10 deficit in the first game with a 9-3 run. They were led by All-American outside hitters Mishka Levy and Schumacher, who had six and five kills respectively.

They battled basically point for point with the Cardinal in the second game, leading 26-25 before Stanford finished them off with the last five points. Three were on kills by freshman outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani, who had seven total kills in the game.

"When you're at 26-26 in the second game, you need a better effort than what we got," Rose said. "I thought we had some opportunities to win the second game, and we didn't execute."

The collapse in the third game began early. The Cardinal scored the game's first five points and opened up a 13-3 lead. The Lions never got back within double digits, forcing themselves to the wall in the fourth game.

"We need to work harder than that," junior outside hitter Hillary Sexton said. "We weren't scrambling for balls. We should've been taking bigger swings. Penn State shouldn't play like that."

The Lions seemed to be on their way to forcing a fifth game before Stanford All-American Logan Tom, a member of the 2000 Olympic team, started to serve. The Cardinal scored eight straight points with her serving, including two on service aces. After a kill by Lion middle blocker Cara Smith, Stanford senior middle blocker Sara Sandrik led the Cardinal to seven more points. The Lions got back to within six at one point but never closer.

The Cardinal had a clear 18-6 blocking advantage, forcing the Lions to a .069 hitting percentage.

Tom led Stanford in kills with 19, and also led the Cardinal with 16 digs. Nnamani had 16 kills, and junior outside hitter Ashley Ivy added 10. Schumacher led the Lions with 17 kills, but had 15 hitting errors, and Sexton followed with 11 kills.

Though the Lions will drop in ranking with the loss, Rose knows that playing national powers early will strengthen his team.

"We're going to get better," Rose said. "That's why we're playing Stanford. That's why we're going to play Long Beach State. I wish we were a little bit stronger physically, but this is the lineup we have. We're going to improve."