Ask Penn State women's volleyball head coach Russ Rose what he remembers about Sept. 24 vs. Purdue and he will flashback not only to the match, but Game 3 in particular.

The Boilermakers took a timeout after a service ace by senior setter Sam Tortorello gave the Nittany Lions a comfortable lead at 22-16. A win in the game would have given the Penn State women's volleyball team a 2-1 match lead. Instead, the Lions' advantage withered away, as Purdue won 30-27.

"We had a big lead in the third game and stopped playing," Rose said. "We had to scramble in the fourth and fifth game to get a victory."

No. 3 Penn State did end up beating No. 14 Purdue, 3-2, but Game 3 is something that the Lions would love to forget. The two teams square off in West Lafayette, Ind., at 7 tonight, and the Lions will also face Illinois at 8 p.m. tomorrow. Rose's team will have a chance to clinch a share of a Big Ten title with wins against both teams.

At the same time, the Lions will also have a chance to avenge a rare loss. Since Penn State's five-game match against the Boilermakers (21-4, 10-4 Big Ten), the Lions (23-2, 14-0) have remained unblemished through conference play with only one other game loss in 12 Big Ten matches.

Even though the Purdue match was at the beginning of the conference season, Rose knew that the rematch later in the season was going to be a test. After outhitting the Boilermakers by 64 percentage points and winning the blocking battle 15 to 10.5, the close call was proof for Rose that the Boilermakers are a dangerous team.

"I'm sure the Purdue rematch, next time at Purdue, will be that much tougher," Rose said after the match. "If they beat us tonight it would have been because they deserved to beat us tonight, not because of anything we weren't doing well."

Rose also knew that if the match wasn't played in State College, that the outcome could have been different. During Penn State's 1999 national championship season, the Boilermaker faithful packed 2,076 people into the Purdue's home court, the Intercollegiate Athletic Facility (IAF). The IAF is only supposed to hold 1,696 attendees.

On Sept. 24, a small crowd of faithful Purdue students wore their Black and Gold proudly amongst another 2,300 or so Penn State fans at Rec Hall. The energetic troupe almost out-voiced the Lions fans, putting up a fight against Penn State students sitting a bleacher over. Rose can imagine that being present again -- just multiplied.

"They're what I think you want to see in college athletics," Rose said. "College kids who find themselves interested in another group of college kids and they go on road trips. I thought that was cool. They did a nice job."

And while Rose looks forward to the Purdue match, he isn't going to circle this one on his calendar. The following night the Lions will face Illinois, a team that is fighting to get into the NCAA tournament. At the same time, Penn State is trying to win to stay in the upper part of the polls in order to be a top seed in December.

"It would be wrong to put all of your eggs in one basket and say, 'Purdue, Purdue, Purdue,' and then not be ready to play Illinois," Rose said. "We were picked to win the Big Ten, so everyone assumes we should win it."

Losing the match, or even a game, would be something Rose won't forget, but as long as the effort is there, he will be satisfied. His team has greater aspirations than a Big Ten title.

"You just play as hard as you can in November and hope you're still playing in the middle of December," Rose said.

That's when the talk is national championship, not one game back in September.