Red-faced and drenched with sweat, Penn State women's volleyball assistant coach Mike Schall stood atop a large blue box Monday afternoon, spiking balls at the Penn State players poised to receive his hits on the opposite side of then net.

After consecutive balls boomed against the floor, untouched by the women, Schall stopped.

"I'm not doing this for my health," he yelled. "When you don't give effort, I get the impression that you don't care, and when that happens, Saturday night happens. And when Saturday night happens, Wednesday night can happen as well."

For the women of the Penn State volleyball team, they would rather that Saturday night's ugly 3-0 loss to defending Big Ten champions Minnesota did not happen. But with Ohio State (8-8, 2-6) coming to Rec Hall tonight at 7, the focus has not been dwelling on the loss, but rather getting fired up and preparing for the Buckeyes.

"We have to get ready to play," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said. "We can't sulk about [the loss], and we can't change it, and the fact that we can't change it means it's time to move on."

Part of moving on is having the hitters practice taking big swing after big swing, because hitting a .106, as the women did on Saturday, is not the way to win. Middle hitter Cara Smith and opposite Erin Iceman will look return to form after being contained by the Minnesota block this weekend.

"[Junior outside hitter] Ashley [Pederson] was the only one taking big swings for us [on Saturday], so if the slump that those other individuals found themselves in continues, then we're in a lot of trouble," Rose said.

Moving on also involves solidifying the block that the Golden Gophers managed to hit past. This is especially important because Ohio State will bring to the court one of the most powerful swings in the conference in last year's Big Ten Player of the Year, outside hitter Stacey Gordon.

Gordon not only leads her team with 6.35 kills per game, but she is a multi-faceted threat as she also ranks first for the Buckeyes in service aces, with 0.4 per game, and in digs, with 3.38 per game.

"One player can't win a match, but if the match is close, Stacey Gordon can win the match," Rose said.

While the Buckeyes have had a rough start in the Big Ten, winning just two matches out of eight thus far, they field a talented rotation, beyond just Gordon.

"We have to try and recognize that there are a lot of people that are playing well on that team," Rose said. "The fact that [Ohio State] went five [last Friday] with Minnesota, and Minnesota the next night beat us 3-0 is certainly all the reason one would need to recognize that we better be ready to play because Ohio State is playing [well] right now."

But as the women discovered this past weekend, claiming victory in a match goes well beyond simply recognizing the threat the opposition poses. Victory requires a fight. And before Schall resumed spiking on Monday, he drove home that point.

"If you aren't going to go after every ball, then that door says 'out' on it," he said, pointing at the exit in the South Gym of Rec Hall.

"We don't need you."