In most good movies, the plot slowly leads to a dramatic climax, and it seems that whoever made the No. 9 Penn State Women's Volleyball team's (4-0) schedule has seen plenty of movies.
The Lions will travel to Akron today to play in the Zips Invitational where, while they won't be facing the most elite teams in the nation, they will face tougher competition than they did last week in Maine.
"I'm not naïve to think that we are playing the top two or three teams in the country," Penn State head coach Russ Rose said about his team's early schedule. "But this is a new group and we need to take small steps to move forward."
Tonight at 5, the Lions take on intrastate rival Pittsburgh (2-1), whom the Lions haven't lost to since 1987, and are led by junior Gini Ullery and her 57 kills. While the Panthers are coached by Ball State product Chris Beerman, his assistant is former Penn State All-American Jason Kepner.
Tomorrow the Lions are in for their third double-header in the past two weeks, but are facing teams that are winless against them. In its first match of the morning Penn State will face the Eagles of American University (1-2), but don't let the record fool you as they bring one of the most talented players in women's volleyball with them in Karla Kucerkova.
The senior outside hitter, who hails from the Czech Republic, recorded a career-high 29 kills last weekend against Rutgers and has yet to reach her mid-season form. Kucerkova was the 2001 Patriot League Player of the Year and was named the Verizon Academic All-American Volleyball Player of the Year last season. American also brings a wealth of youth to the court fielding only one senior on its roster.
Penn State will finish off the tournament tomorrow night at 7 when it takes on host team Akron (2-1). The Zips started their season strong, winning their first two games of the year, but are coming off a tough loss at the hands of Charlotte. Penn State beat Akron last year, but it wasn't easy as the Zips scored 25-plus points in all four games.
Very similarly to Penn State, Akron meshes a group of seniors and freshmen that are all capable of taking over a match. Freshman Magen Wood is coming off of a 14-kill performance, while senior Sandy Lewis recorded 19 digs to go with her seven kills last weekend.
But don't think that Penn State will change anything it normally does this weekend for the Invitational. Rose seems confident with his lineup, but says that if the players who aren't playing now start improving in practice fans shouldn't be surprised to see them get more time.
"While we're not planning on changing much of the offense" Rose said, "We can't play like we played last weekend."
