Cassy's got her groove back.

Penn State sophomore middle hitter Cassy Salyer has been struggling through this season with a lower leg injury that has affected her speed and jumping ability. The injury has frustrated the 6-foot-5 native of Aurora, Colo., but after two stellar weekends in a row, Salyer appears to be gaining momentum.

"I think Cassy has gotten a lot of her confidence back," Penn State junior setter Sam Tortorello said. "She's feeling better, her and I have been working a lot more together. She's looking at things a lot more positively."

Salyer's first five weeks of the season have been as up and down as her health. She never put together two matches in a weekend in which she played well. A perfect example came during the third weekend of the season when Penn State played University of Maryland-Baltimore Country, Yale and West Virginia. Salyer played well in the first two matches, recording nine and 12 kills, respectively. She then followed that up with a clunker against West Virginia, collecting a meager two kills on six attempts.

Salyer finally gathered herself during the team's trip to Indiana on Oct. 8. She recorded 13 kills, her season high, and a .450 hitting percentage in the match against Purdue and followed that up with an impressive performance on the defensive side with a seven-block performance (two solo, five assisted) against Indiana.

She has also slowly but surely been integrating herself into participating in a full practice. Through the first couple of weeks, she had been going on the side and doing her own thing, which would include jumping rope or doing hitting drills on the side. It is no coincidence that her return to full practice coincided with her steadying on-court play. She still wears a protective shin brace but doesn't seem to be hindering her at all recently.

"[Salyer] is going to have to improve more if we're going to have any prospects of having success," Penn State coach Russ Rose said when asked if he expects Salyer to level off.

She continued her improved play this weekend, when Michigan and Michigan State visited Happy Valley. Salyer put together only her second back-to-back double-digit kill performance of the season. She recorded 11 and 13 kills, with a .421 hitting percentage against Michigan.

Her jumping seemed to be returning too, as she recorded her second seven-block match in as many weekends.

"I know what my job is," Salyer said. " I know I can't be on a roller coaster. I have to come out and be steady and that's been my focus."

The Lion's will need Salyer to be on her game tomorrow when Ohio State's Stacey Gordon brings her incredible offensive abilities to Rec Hall.