Sometimes you can't worry about anything but the bottom line.

Dominant it was not, but the Penn State women's volleyball team managed to escape the Penn State Classic at Rec Hall this weekend unscathed despite playing with a shuffled lineup. Starting outside hitters Hilary Sexton and Mishka Levy were sitting the weekend out with elbow ligament damage and a foot injury, respectively, so setter Shannon Bortner was forced to move to outside hitter.

The No. 4 Nittany Lions lost the first game of their opening match to unranked George Mason for their first loss of a game in the event since losing a match to Nebraska in 1993. They later lost a game to Rutgers in the final match, but the Lions still went 3-0 in the tournament, giving them a 6-1 record with three games to go until the start of the Big Ten season.

"I'm pleased to win these games, even though this is not the type of volleyball I'm expecting from this team," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said.

The Lions had a little more than a day to address their lineup changes, finding out Thursday that Sexton and Levy would not be able to play. The new squad took some time to gel, as evidenced by their 30-26 loss in the first game of the George Mason match Friday night.

In game two, they also struggled, allowing George Mason to stay point for point with them for most of the contest. They trailed 21-19 before rattling off an 11-3 run for the victory. Game three also required a late 9-3 run for the 30-23 win. In game four, the Lions finally dominated as was expected with a 30-14 pummeling of the Patriots.

"It was a very tough match for us, having lost two players yesterday" Rose said after the game. "It wasn't easy for us to get organized, but I thought we did a nice job after losing the first game."

Schumacher, who would be named the MVP of the event, had 21 kills in the first three games including nine in the second. She finished with 22, spreading the wealth in game four. Sophomore middle blocker Cara Smith assisted on 10 blocks for 12 total, and Shannon Bortner had 11 kills in her first game at outside hitter. Bortner and Smith were also named to the All-Tournament team.

George Mason's outside hitters Aline Pereira and Natalia Torres-Tirado had 15 and 14 kills, respectively. They were also named to the All-Tournament team.

"For the situation with the lineup we had, I thought we played very well," Schumacher said. "A lot of people stepped up their play. We did a great job of taking big swings. We did a great job blocking, and I thought the back row was aggressive."

The Rutgers match was also a bit of a struggle for the Lions. They needed a 9-3 closing run to win the first game, 30-24, and won the second game 30-28.

Rutgers managed to avoid a sweep, however, winning game three 32-30, but the Lions closed out the match with an 8-3 run to win the fourth game.

Schumacher had 20 kills in the game. Cara Smith had 14, and Bortner and outside hitter Ashley Pederson had 11 each. Sophomore middle blocker Nadia Edwards contributed nine blocks. Rutgers outside hitter Shayla Bush was impressive with 19 kills, which helped earn her a spot on the All-Tournament team.

The Lions did win the UNC-Asheville match in a walk, sweeping the Bulldogs with wins of 30-11, 30-14 and 30-8. Schumacher had 15 kills, Pederson had 11 and Smith had 10.

The Lions play Youngstown State Tuesday at Rec Hall at 7 p.m. before closing out their non-conference schedule this weekend with a trip to California to play at Long Beach State on Saturday and at UC-Irvine on Sunday.