The Penn State women's volleyball team was one point away from a perfect weekend at Rec Hall.

After dominating the first two matches of the Penn State Invitational in three-game sweeps over Rutgers on Friday night (30-14, 30-10, 30-16) and Qunnipiac (30-13, 30-11, 30-6) Saturday morning, the Nittany Lions faced a slightly stiffer challenge from Akron.

"I knew coming in that it was going to be a very difficulty match," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said. "Just based on the way [Akron] plays the game."

The Lions won two hard-fought games against the Zips, and served for match point in game three. Akron went on to win that game -- and even took a 10-3 lead in game four -- before the Lions regained their composure and won to remain undefeated lifetime at their own season-opening tournament (33-0).

"We kind of dodged a little bullet here today, because Akron is a good volleyball team," Rose said after the final match. "You don't really know what you've got until you get yourself in a match where the other person slaps you upside the head to get your attention."

Akron certainly got the Lions' attention after taking that 10-3 lead in game four, forcing Rose to call a timeout and make a lineup change. True freshman Sam Tortorello, who had played only sparingly in the tournament to that point, replaced junior Jess Hayden at the setter position.

"We certainly gave Jess every opportunity to get the job done," Rose said. "I thought I was disappointed that her energy wasn't good."

The effect was immediate, as Penn State went on a 9-2 run to tie the game. Totorello set to assist on six of those points.

"I thought Samantha came in and did a fabulous job at a time where the group was cracking and making a lot of mistakes and not being focused," Rose said. "I thought she came in, did a great job and got us out of the match."

Totorello ended the match with 17 sets -- quite a bit for only playing two-thirds of one game.

"I was ready to go," Tortorello said. "I just wanted to go in there and do my job and help the team in whatever way I could. It was great; the crowd was great. I had a great time out there."

But Totorello wasn't the only freshman to get significant playing time. Throughout the weekend, freshman Amy Morris started, freshman Kaleena Walkters saw significant time serving, and sophomores Ashley Pederson (who started and appeared in all 10 weekend games), Tabitha Eshleman and Syndie Nadeau all got playing time at key moments.

"As them coming in as freshmen, their first time playing Div.-I, being stable and consistent, I think that's awesome for our program, as they get older," Senior outside hitter Mishka Levy said.

But Rose warns against assuming that the young ones have officially arrived.

"When you have the benefit of playing at home in front of [an announced crowd of 2,253 on Saturday night], that's one thing," Rose said. "Next thing you know, you find yourself on the road in the Big Ten, then they are going to show their youth and their inexperience."

Despite relying on the underclassmen so much, it was the grizzled veterans who got most of the production. Levy had 31 kills, two off her career high.

"We haven't had someone have 30 kills in a long time," Rose said. "It's been a while since we had somebody step up like that in a four-game match. It was a big match for Mishka. She gets a lot of swings. We depend on her for a lot of things."

Junior middle hitter Cara Smith had 42 kills throughout the tournament, but more importantly only committed three attacking errors, making for a .600 hitting percentage.

"Cara had a big night offensively for us," Rose said.

Middle hitter Robyn Goukas returned to action after missing all of last season due to illness. The junior looked impressive, attaining a career-high in hitting percentage in the Akron match (.611).

Overall, Rose said he was pleased with the start of the season.

"I thought we learned some lessons," Rose said. "I thought we had some good performances."

"We know we can come back and win," Levy said. "I think we came together in the end and played really well."

NOTES: Smith was named tournament most valuable player, and joined fellow Lions Levy and Goukas on the All-Tournament team...Senior Hillary Sexton was named Libero of the Tournament. Rounding out the All-Penn State Invitational Team are Heather Wollyung (Quinnipiac), Shayla Bush (Rutgers), and Akron's Jenn Snyder and Katie Kuzior...In the event's other matches, Akron beat Rutgers (3-1) and Qunnipiac (3-0), and Rutgers swept Qunnipiac.