Next up on the redemption slate: No. 10 Ohio State.
Coming off their biggest win of the season against No. 7 Wisconsin (11-1, first place in Big Ten) on Saturday, the No. 11 Penn State women's volleyball will turn to the only other Big Ten team with a better record tonight at Rec Hall, with action beginning at 7.
The Buckeyes (18-2, 10-2) stole a win from the Nittany Lions (16-4, 9-3) at St. Johns arena in Columbus on Sept. 26. After blowing leads of 10-3 and 15-10 in games two and three respectively, Ohio State fashioned their own comeback, rattling off eight points to bring the score to 20-19 in the fourth game.
But the Lions rallied to match point, 29-27. Katie Schumacher, who had a career-high 27 kills in the match, was called for a double contact on a shot to win the match. Ohio State took over from there, scoring the next four points to win the game 31-29.
The Buckeyes had the final run in a spirited overtime, and came out winners with a 15-12 score.
The Lions just came out bitter.
"Yes, no doubt," Schumacher said when asked if the Lions were looking forward to a chance at revenge. "We want payback, and this (the win against Wisconsin) is a big confidence booster. It's nice to have this win, but we've got to push through the Big Ten."
Penn State got a huge boost in pushing power with the return of the old Mishka Levy, who had 39 kills in two matches last weekend on her way to Big Ten Player of the Week honors.
"Mishka had an awfully nice night offensively," said Rose after his team swept Northwestern Friday night. "But it's something that needs to continue if we want to be successful."
Levy is clearly more mobile now and appears comfortable on the floor and with the Lions' game plan, as opposed to earlier in the year when she often looked lost.
Her defense has also improved, which will be imperative tonight against the jump-serving Buckeyes, who lead the league with 2.70 service aces per game.
But what makes those hard, wobbly serves dangerous is that they make the first touch tougher and result in inaccurate passes.
Though Ohio State will rely on getting Penn State out of sync and scoring points early in the volley, coach Jim Stone knows his team will also have to be ready if Penn State can dig their serves.
"I think they're a taller, more physical team than we are," he said. "We're going to have to spread the ball out and try to split their block. We're not going to do that if we don't run a quicker system."
That job will be left to setter Katie Virtue, who leads the conference in assists per game with 13.68. She'll spread the offense to any of her array of dangerous weapons, including Erin Baker (.431 hitting percentage), Suzie Stiling (157 kills, 3.57 per game), Anne Botica (166 kills, 4.49 per game) and Stacey Gordon (199 kills, 4.52 per game.)
Botica and Gordon, who has Big Ten Freshman of the Year all-but wrapped up, are both coming off injuries and just recently started practicing full time.
The ghouls and goblins should be out in force at Rec Hall, as the Ohio State-Penn State tilt could determine the balance of power in the Big Ten.
"In this match we have to match the intensity Penn State played with against Wisconsin," Stone said. "It's definitely a must win game for both teams, because I don't know if Wisconsin's going to lose two more games."
