For those dedicated fans that arrive at a Penn State women's volleyball match early, they get to see one of the more entertaining traditions the team does before every match.

Seniors Sydnie Nadeau and Ashley Pederson get on each side of super-senior Tabitha Eshleman and lift her up as high as they can above the net. Eshleman still doesn't know how it started but she does know why.

"Whenever I would come in the match in middle school and high school they did it then," she said. "Kind of a tradition type thing. The smallest player, you know haha funny, let's see how high we can get her above the net."

Her stature, at 5-foot-4, didn't stop her from earning a spot on the first team all-state squad in 1999 as senior setter for Greencastle-Antrim High School in Greencastle. She won three straight Mid-Pennsylvania Colonial Volleyball Championship and was named Mid-Pennsylvania Conference All-Star Player of the Year in senior season.

After High School she faced a decision, go to a small Div. III school and start as a setter or go to a bigger program and try to make the team as a walk on back row player.

"I've always been around volleyball, my parents played in church leagues and YMCA leagues," she said. "I started coming up to [Penn State] and like watching how the coaches interacted with the players and how the players interacted with each other and I knew that I wanted to play here but never thought it was possible."

Eshleman's road to Penn State has sort of a "Rudy"-esque quality to it. She dreamed of playing for the Lions every since she was 10-years old and was invited to look in on a practice led by Coach Russ Rose. From then on her story almost mirrors that of Rudy, she is an undersized player that had a dream of playing at a big time collegiate program. At times the dream seem as far away as the moon but she kept persevering, with the help of her family.

Like Rudy, Eshleman's dream came true as she made the team as a walk-on and red-shirted for the 2000 season. She received a scholarship the next season and competed in her first match on Aug. 31, 2001 at Rec Hall against Villanova, a date in which the Eshleman family will never forget.

"It was a very proud moment for us," her mother Kim Eshleman said. "When we saw her in that uniform ... words can't describe what we felt. It just made me want to cry."

Unlike Rudy, that match wasn't a one and done thing. Eshleman has played in every match in her Penn State career (124 and counting).

She has also racked up some impressive numbers in her career. Her 650 digs is pretty good considering that she has not started matches often in her career and only plays half of the match. She just recently recorded a career high in digs with 21 last Friday against Wisconsin.

It is not her statistics that has the admiration of her coaches, it is her personality and work ethic that has them wishing she could play there forever.

"Kids like her help define our program," Assistant coach Mike Schall said. "She's never going to be in the headlines ... fortunately for any thing bad or good. She's a very steady kid, very consistent, you always know what you're going to get. We're glad she chose Penn State and glad she stuck around this long."

With senior day coming up Saturday, Eshleman will finally be in the spotlight that has excluded her over her career. Senior Day is suppose to be an end of a career but her family and teammates hope that she will be playing after she's already graduated.

"I hope to still be watching her play in late December, Final Four time." Kim said.

***

On Feb. 8, 1982, Tabitha Rae Eshleman, or "Tab" as most people know her, was born in Greencastle, the first of five children for Kim and Rod.

Being the oldest in such a big family has allowed Eshleman to develop a motherly type relationship with her sibling.

"She call us all the time to just keep up with things at home," Kim said. "Especially her sisters and brother, she has a very good relationship with them. Well not to say they didn't fight but overall it is very good. She's always interested in how they are doing in whatever sport they are competing in."

Her relationship with them is showcased in one event; every time her teenage brother Stefan has a hockey game in Harrisburg, Eshleman tries to attend it.

Besides going to watch her sibling compete in various sports, Eshleman also enjoys to read a book in her down time.

"When Tab starts reading a novel it's like watching a movie without seeing the end," Kim said. "She always has to finish it, if she could do it in one sitting she would."

Having a healthy relationship with siblings and being the steady headed person that she is has helped her to succeed as a mentor to her younger teammates, especially this year team which consist of seven freshman and four sophomores.

"She always cares about the welfare of the other players," Rose said. "She's always asking 'Do I need to talk to her?' or 'Can I help her?' There are not many people committed to the program as she is. I think that is one of her best traits."

It's not just the younger Lions that she has helped over her five years with the program, she has also inspired all of her teammates with her work ethic on and off the court. There is especially one well-known Lion that is a fan.

"When I came in here as a freshman, we got along really well right away. She is definitely someone I have looked up to over the past three years," junior libero Kaleena Walters said. "I think she is a really great inspiration and I am really going to miss her.".