"We knew we needed to start working together to rally and come back and cut down on errors," Fawcett said of the effort to stop Hawaii's second-game run.

"When we were down by that many points, we knew we had to get back in a rhythm and fight back," senior All-American setter Sam Tortorello said. "We weren't going to have another performance like [Friday]."

Friday's performance by the Lions, according to Rose, was "shaky" at both the beginning and end of the match. Penn State rallied to win games three and four, but ultimately fell (24-30, 24-30, 30-28, 30-23, 10-15) to the Cardinal before 10,028 fans in Omaha's Qwest Center.

Stanford held the Lions to a measly .175 hitting percentage, while Cardinal standout freshmen Cynthia Barboza and Foluke Akinradewo combined for 38 kills and a .330 attack percentage.

Against Hawaii, however, the freshmen in the spotlight were in blue and white, as Fawcett and middle hitter Christa Harmotto paired for 26 kills at a .412 clip.

Time and again, Tortorello fed Harmotto with quicksets in the middle against which the Wahine were unable to defend.

"The play of our middles and doing things we're good at put them off pace," Tortorello said of the team's success against Hawaii.

Penn State's play against Hawaii eased some anxiety on the part of Rose, if ever so slightly.

"We certainly feel better than we felt [Friday] at this time. We played a lot smarter, a lot harder and made fewer errors," Rose said.

A week before the opening match, Rose was not sure what players would be available to him, with Fawcett and sophomore standout Kate Price having suffered preseason injuries. Both Lions played, but Hawaii was missing some key personnel that might be back in action when the two teams face off again later this week.

"I'm sensitive to the fact that Hawaii is missing some of their key offensive players," Rose said. "I know we'll see a different Hawaii in less than a week."