If you had to define the No. 4 Penn State women's volleyball team in one word, you could certainly call it clutch.

The Nittany Lions (24-2, 15-2 Big Ten) took down No. 7 Ohio State (24-3, 14-3) last night on the road to gain sole possession of first place in the Big Ten Conference standings.

Going into last night's match the Lions and the Buckeyes were tied for the top spot in the conference, but now there's only one top cat.

The last time these teams met, in State College, the match went to five games and the Buckeyes walked away victorious, but tonight's game was a different story as the Lions won 3-1 (30-28, 22-30, 30-19, 30-28) in Columbus.

All season long, the Lions have fared exceptionally well on the road, and remain unbeaten away from Happy Valley with last night's win.

Freshman outside hitter Kate Price, feeling a bit under the weather before the match, continued to play like a seasoned veteran of the Big Ten, leading the Lions in kills with 20.

"Clearly Katie took some really big swings on the outside and did a really good job for us tonight," senior outside hitter Ashley Pederson said. "I think [junior setter] Sam [Tortorello] did a good job distributing the ball tonight as well, and when we can do that, it's really tough on the other team."

Five different Penn State players were good for double-digit kills, with Syndie Nadeau, Melissa Walbridge, Cassy Salyer and Pederson all recording 10 kills each, in addition to Price's 20.

The defensive load was shared all around too, with five players finishing with more than 10 digs -- Nadeau, Tortorello, Price, Kaleena Walters and Tabitha Eshelman.

Keeping Buckeye senior outside hitter Stacey Gordon at bay was crucial for the Lions. She still lead all players in kills with 21, but that's significantly lower than usual for Gordon.

"We fought hard against a good opponent in a tough situation," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said.

"We had good balance from people, and I thought Katie playing sick, she really gutted it out and played a terrific match."

The Lions talked all week about how important it would be to play as a team to walk out of Columbus with a win, and that's exactly how they won last night.

"Everyone is really, really excited about this win tonight. We played with a lot of energy," Pederson said. "We know that obviously Ohio State is a really competitive team, we also know this is a long road ahead these next three games, and we need to be ready."