It crumbled in a very predictable and direct manner. The Penn State women's volleyball team's season fell apart over a three game span against UCLA on Saturday because of all the things that prevented the Nittany Lions, who were picked to win the Big Ten and ranked third in the country to begin the year, from ever reaching their potential.

"I think it was an example of how the season has been all year," is how Penn State coach Russ Rose put it.

Game one started like so many other games this season, with the Nittany Lions looking lost on the court. The Bruins, led by Volleyball Magazine's player of the year last season Kristee Porter, swarmed the Lions with long sets and big swings. Penn State failed to respond, committing six errors while allowing the Bruins to jump to a 12-2 lead.

"We weren't ready from the start," said Penn State middle hitter Nadia Edwards. "We couldn't get any momentum going our way."

The stats are atrocious. The Lions had just five kills (they average 15.8 per game), four assists (they average 14.6 per game), and seven digs (they average 14.9 per game). The Lions would lose the game 30-11. There hasn't been a game score that lopsided for the Lions since they beat UNC-Asheville 30-8 on Sept. 8.

Penn State had one more error than they had kills in that game.

But the lackluster start was just in keeping with the trend this season for the Lions. After coming from two games down against Wisconsin to win at Rec Hall, the Lions played their worst match of the season (well, until Saturday) against Ohio State the following Wednesday. After beating a tough Michigan State team on the road, Penn State came out flat and was upset by Michigan.

The Lions looked clueless on defense and as a result could never set any plays. Even though Mishka Levy had 17 attacks in that game, none of her swings were set up very well and as a result she accounted for just one kill. Katie Schumacher took seven swings and also had just one kill.

In all fairness, Penn State's ball handling problems stemmed from UCLA's serving, which was the best at Rec Hall yet this year.

"It's all about attitude," said Rose. "Defense is about attitude."

The Bruins made the Lions look docile on defense, as they chased every ball and more than that, were in perfect position for every dig.

The inability to dig and get a good first touch made it hard for Shannon Bortner to find any rhythm with her sets. Rose pulled her briefly in the first game, probably more for shock effect than anything. Her replacement, Jess Hayden, couldn't get anything going either.

As a result, the Lions offense was a discombobulated jumble of flying shots and free balls.

Things calmed down a bit in the second game and the Lions rallied to tie the score at 21-21 on a kill by Schumacher. The problem from there, though, was that nobody wanted to step up. Schumacher registered two more kills and Cara Smith pounded down a shot, but the blocking effort was lacking and an Ashley Bowles ended the game with a smash that made it 30-28.

Effort in the clutch, like virtually every aspect of this team, has been up and down all year, with Schumacher the most-likely candidate to play the role of hero. Without Levy to balance out the attack, and no middle offense to spread the block, Schumacher was helpless against the Bruins.

In the third game, a defeated Lions team did all they could to muster a rally. After an attack error by Porter made in 22-18 in UCLA's favor, the Bruins wouldn't allow the Lions to score again, ending the Lions season on a service ace that nobody in blue and white really tried to dig.

There might be only one man in NCAA women's volleyball that can out-coach Rose. Unfortunately, he was on the Bruins sideline. Andy Banachowski has led the Bruins to 10 NCAA final fours, winning three and finishing as runner-up four times. He won his 900th game earlier this year.

Rose, on the other hand, may have experience his most trying year as a head coach, just because of the sheer disappointment in never being able to get a talented team to play together.

"I don't think this is a group that has played the game the way it should be played," he said. "I didn't get the players to do what I needed to get them to do. Some things you don't have a good explanation for."

But he added later: "If it's one person's fault, I'm the guy."

It's hard to blame Rose though, because of the nature of this team. He spent a year trying to patch up every little character and chemistry deficiency only to identify new problems. He never really had the time to coach in the traditional sense.

"We've got to hope we can attract players who want to bring the tradition back to where it was," he said.

Now, after his team's first exit at home in NCAA History, Rose will have all of a very long, cold Happy Valley winter to think about what he can do to rebuild the prolific program he raised to championship levels.