So close, yet so far away.

From the second straight match against a highly ranked Big Ten opponent, the No. 5 Penn State women's volleyball team (16-2, 7-2 Big Ten) came up short in a five-game match. The Nittany Lions lost to Ohio State (25-30, 30-22, 26-30, 30-26, 15-11) in the best match at Rec Hall this season.

"Both teams played hard and competed hard and I thought it was a hard fought match," Ohio State coach Jim Stone said. "Either team could have won. There wasn't much difference between to two teams."

The only difference between the two teams was in the crucial game five, with the score tied at 11-11. The Buckeyes (19-0, 9-0) remained calm while Penn State made key mistakes to lose the match. Back-to-back hitting errors by freshman Kate Price and senior Syndie Nadeau, which contributed to the team's negative .111 hitting percentage for the game, headlined the miscues. None other than Ohio State's superstar outside hitter Stacey Gordon, who recorded a service ace, finished off the match.

"She's just a terrific player. She has the ability to beat you from the front row and the back row," Penn State coach Russ Rose said. "Everybody notices how hard she hits and she took a pretty good rip on the match point serve. I think she plays hard and she uses a lot of energy to keep the other players in the game."

Gordon tied a career high in kills with 36, a feat she also accomplished while playing against then-No. 1 Minnesota. Gordon, who is no slouch on the defensive end, also recorded 16 digs in the match.

Overshadowed by Gordon were two newcomers, senior middle hitter Maya Mapp and freshman outside hitter Ami Stevens, who both had a hand in the victory, recording 13 and 11 kills respectively.

"[Stevens] always does slide under the radar," Stone said. "She's a tough kid. The longer that match went tonight the more smooth she was on the serve and receive and she took some big swings from the left side."

Another freshman, Penn State middle hitter Melissa Walbridge, also played a prevalent role in the match. She recorded a career high in kills with 11 and did not commit any errors, giving her a .478 hitting percentage for the match. Besides her surprising offensive showing, Walbridge also did what her role requires her to do -- block. Walbridge recorded six blocks, two of which were key in the game four victory for the Lions.

"Melissa works hard. I thought she made a couple of key blocks," Penn State junior Kaleena Walters said. "She had a good block and she's solid when she gets up in the right position, so I think she did pretty well tonight."

Even with the positive play of Walbridge, the Lions showed some sloppiness in areas that are usually a constant for the team. Rose said that he was disappointed in the play of key individuals. The most surprising mistakes came from the normally steady setter, junior Sam Tortorello. She made some bad sets, which is uncharacteristic of the unanimous preseason all-Big Ten selection, who contributed to the 31 hitting errors made by the Lions.

Penn State has to quickly shake off the loss to the Buckeyes and travel to Champaign, Ill., and take on No. 24 Illinois tomorrow night. The Fighting Illini pulled off the upset of the season when they defeated the University of Southern California, ending the Women of Troy's 52-match winning streak.