Penn State took the momentum in the nailbiter and won the next two games to win the match 3-1.
"Had we lost that game we would have found ourselves in a very tough task," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said. "Also it would had given [Pitt] a lot more energy heading into the third game."
After looking sluggish in game one, the Lions began to come alive and started to show the form that made them Big Ten champions. In the early going, it looked as if neither team wanted to take the lead as the teams exchanged points during the first 12.
The Lions gained the first of their eight three-point leads at 9-6. Penn State played a bend-don't-break game until Pitt finally tied the game at 25.
"Obviously the tide turned in the match during that second game," Pittsburgh coach Chris Beerman said. "I think if Pitt goes up 2-0 with that last point that we needed the result would have been different."
Pitt got their next two points with a little help from Penn State, two hitting errors by Cara Smith and Nadeau put the Panthers up by two. The Lions got two kills from Ashley Pederson to tie the game at 28-28. After a time out by Pitt, their star hitter Wendy Hatlestand, gave Pitt its first chance to take the game at 29-28. The suddenly-hot Pederson, who had seven kills in the game, saved Penn State with a kill to tie the game at 29. In volleyball, the first team to 30 wins a game, but the team must win by at least two points, and the teams play overtime until that happens.
Pitt took the first point on a kill by Hatlestad. Then the Lions rolled off two straight points on a kill by Pederson and a hitting error by Pitt. After Pitt tied the game at 31-31, Penn State went on another two-point run on kills by Nadeau (6 kills) and this time they finshed off the Panthers 33-31.
"We had the life kicked out of us after that game," Beerman said. "We competed hard but we lost a little life after that."
