Graham Spanier was present for Friday night's Penn State women's volleyball game at Rec Hall; the Penn State president was doubling as color commentator for a local TV station.
While Spanier was there, many of the Nittany Lions on the court didn't completely show up, at least not to the level Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose would have liked.
Physically, the Lions were healthy, but mentally they weren't all there. They battled No. 13 Wisconsin (16-4, 8-3 Big Ten) to a hard-fought, 3-1 victory. After dropping the first game, 27-30, Penn State rallied in the final three games 30-16, 30-22, 30-21 to record the win.
The lackadaisical trend for the No. 3 Lions (21-2, 12-0) continued on Saturday night vs. Northwestern, in their 3-0 (30-24, 30-23, 30-21) defeat of the lowly Wildcats.
Unfortunately, the 5,971 fans who filtered into Rec Hall this weekend -- the largest combined weekend crowd at Penn State this season -- didn't see the team at its best.
"I thought we played well for the last three or four points of the match, and I thought we started how we've been practicing," Rose said after the Wisconsin match. "And, you know, I don't think it was the type of performance I would have expected us to play with the nice crowd, being back at home."
Though Rose was displeased with his team's overall performance, he did recognize a few players that bailed his team out.
"I'm disappointed in how some people played, but I'm pleased by how hard, I thought, Cassy [Salyer] played," he said. "I thought Nicole [Fawcett] took some good swings at some critical times for us. And certainly Kris Brown, in the third game, had a stretch where she had three aces, so that was a nice bonus off the bench."
On Friday night, the Lions fell behind Wisconsin early in Game 1, after hitting only .041. Coming into the game, Penn State was ranked first in the Big Ten in hitting percentage, averaging .334 a match, but finished on Friday hitting only .247.
Salyer, who finished with a team-high .467 hitting percentage, was key in a sequence of back-to-back points in Game 2 that gave the Lions some much-needed momentum heading into Games 3 and 4.
The junior middle hitter was in on a block with Melissa Walbridge to put the Lions up, 11-6. Following the block that caught Wisconsin out of position, sophomore outside hitter Kate Price added another point for Penn State after sending a hard kill to the back corner. The flustered Badgers called a timeout, and the Lions never looked back after that.
"Being 6-foot-5 comes in handy," Sayler said of her blocking ability.
"I don't even know if I was jumping. I just kind of stuck my hand up and pushed."
Standout freshman Fawcett hit an uncharacteristic -.071 in Game 1, but showed resilience, finishing the match with a .318 hitting percentage.
With 20 kills and 16 digs, Fawcett had her second career double-double vs. Wisconsin, using pinpoint accuracy in placing kills that cut through the defenders to the back and back corners of the court -- areas no Badger was covering.
Defensive specialist Brown finished the match with three service aces and 12 defensive digs.
"That's what [Coach Rose] expects out of me, is to come in and bring energy to the rest of the team," Brown said.
Unlike Friday, the Lions couldn't seem to wake themselves up after a slow start against Northwestern, allowing the Wildcats to stay close all night.
Penn State finished Saturday night, hitting only .268 in the three-game sweep of the Wildcats.
Salyer, however, was strong in the match, finishing with a .471 hitting percentage, as well as Walbridge, who finished hitting .526.
Fawcett finished -- for the first time in her career -- in the red, hitting -.029.
