The concept is simple.

Win and you live to play another day.

Lose, and you're in the mall a few weeks early getting some holiday shopping done.

That's what it comes down to for the No. 11 seed Penn State Women's Volleyball team (28-4, 17-3 Big Ten) as it takes on Robert Morris (23-11) at 7:30 pm tonight in Rec Hall in the first round of the NCAA Div. I Women's Volleyball Championship.

That game will actually be the second game in Rec Hall tonight as two other teams, Penn and Pittsburgh, meet at 5 in their first round matchup. The winner of both games will play each other at 7 tomorrow night in Rec Hall in the second round of the tournament.

Tonight will mark the second time this season that Robert Morris comes into Rec Hall, but the Colonials are hoping for different results from their first trip as they were beaten by the Nittany Lions, 3-0. Despite handling RMU pretty handedly in September, Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose is preparing to see a completely different team.

"We played them earlier in the year and they didn't have their setter," Rose said. "People would be making a bad judgement if they were basing everything on an earlier match because that match wasn't a reflection of how they're playing now as a team."

If the Lions win tonight, one thing will be for certain; they will see some familiar faces tomorrow. Penn came into Rec Hall in this same situation last season, but lost to Penn State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

On the other hand there's the University of Pittsburgh, who Penn State also beat earlier this season 3-1.

Like Robert Morris, both of these teams cannot be passed over and Rose knows that he needs to get his players to realize this.

"Teams, when they have three or four seniors on the roster and kids that are on the floor, Pitt and Penn both have that," Rose said. "I think it gives them a lot more confidence to be able to go out there and compete."

This weekend will also be the final time that the Penn State seniors will get to play in Rec Hall. But when senior captains Erin Iceman and Cara Smith were asked if that thought even crossed their minds, they quickly switched the topic to their goals in the tournament.

"I haven't really concentrated on that at all," Smith said. "We want to get to the final four ... that's our focus."