The Lions have been focusing on trying to expand the offense for most of the season, so the weekend's developments in the Minnesota game, and against Iowa showed that the plans are starting to work. Though the Lions still have a long way to go before they can play as physical a game as they would like, the weekend's games were the team's offensive high water mark of the season.

Middle blockers Nadia Edwards and Cara Smith continued to improve offensively. Smith led the team in kills with 13, hitting a stellar .545 and Edwards hit 7 for 9 in the first two games before failing to get a kill in the third. They were the primary force helping the Lions outblock the Golden Gophers. Smith was a part of five blocks, and Edwards assisted on four.

"We ran the middle really well in the first two games," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said. "Nadia and Cara put up such good numbers in the first two games."

The better balance helped the Lions survive what was somewhat of an off night for senior outside hitter Katie Schumacher. She registered 12 kills, but also racked up nine hitting errors. Outside hitters Shannon Bortner and Mishka Levy stepped up their play with 11 and nine kills respectively.

The Lions balance has improved consistently better as the season has progressed. Schumacher is still getting the bulk of the sets and attack opportunities, but with Edwards, Smith, Bortner and Levy all putting the ball on the floor, the Lions have been clicking on all cylinders. Edwards, Smith and Levy are all averaging more than two kills per game, and Edwards and Smith rank third and sixth in the Big Ten in hitting percentage.

With the play at the net improving and the ball control, serving and defense still the strengths of the team, this weekend showed a lot of promise that the team would continue to evolve.

"As a whole this was the best performance we've had as a team," Smith said. "We've had excellent ball control, the play with the middles has been good. Everything's starting to click together."