Much like their football counterparts, the Penn State women's volleyball team traveled to Champagne, Ill., this weekend in need of a crucial victory.
Much like the football team, it left that city with disappointment and heartache.
In the Friday night match that eerily followed the same basic script that the game Saturday at Memorial Stadium did, the No. 13 Nittany Lions stormed out of the gate with a 30-17 win in the first game. In the second game they pushed No. 24 Illinois to the wall with a 30-25 victory.
The Lions had numerous chances to close the match out, including two chances for match point. However, in each of the last three games they came up short and watched a victory slip through their fingers in five games.
"We had an opportunity to win both matches," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said. "That's what you want when you're playing a good conference team on the road. We started out good, but we continued to make errors you would expect from a team that doesn't have a great feel for the team aspect of the game."
The Lions came back Saturday with a 3-1 victory over Indiana to move to 18-6 overall, 11-5 in the Big Ten, but that win likely won't be enough to erase the painful memories of Friday's loss.
After dominating the Illini in game one, they came back from down six points to pull the second game out. They held a 21-16 lead midway through game three, but allowed Illinois to come back. They had a shot at match point with the score 29-28, but a kill by Illinois outside hitter Sue Webber and a ball handling error by Lions setter Shannon Bortner gave the Illini a 30-29 advantage. They would later capitalize for a 32-30 win.
After losing game four in a seesaw battle, the Lions came back from down 12-8 in game five to take a 14-13 lead with a shot at the match. However an attack error by senior outside hitter Katie Schumacher allowed the Illini to tie. They would later win 17-15, snatching a win from the Lions.
"I think we just started playing too tentative," Bortner said. "They were out-hustling us. We did a good job of coming out strong, but they started getting the crowd into the game and getting confidence, and we were losing our confidence. And I think our communication broke down."
Herein lies the same continuous problem that plagued the Lions once again this week. Bad chemistry and poor team play reared its ugly head.
"I'm not disappointed in just the fact that we lost," Rose said. "As a coach I understand that there is winning and losing. I'm disappointed that this team has underachieved in its ability to play as a team."
The Lions did get solid play from both of their All-American outside hitters. Schumacher had 27 kills and 16 digs against the Illini before piling up 20 kills and 20 digs in the Indiana victory on Saturday night. Junior Mishka Levy continued to improve her offensive production with 19 kills and 20 digs Friday before pounding out 27 kills against the Hoosiers.
Freshman Ashley Pederson also continued to ease in to her new role as a secondary offensive option with nine kills against the Illini and 12 against Indiana.
Illinois lost to Ohio State Saturday, which allowed the Lions to stay one game up on them for third place in the Big Ten. Rose doesn't consider his team a lock for the NCAA tournament, and knows his squad might have to win its last four games to host the first and second rounds of the tournament.
"We've got four matches left to get ourselves in position to be a host team," Rose said. "I'm not 100 percent sure we're going to get a tournament bid, so every game from here on in is huge. I understand that, and I can only hope my players see it the same way."
