Seven-hundred-and-fifty-two miles separate Tennessee and Pennsylvania, but only a few feet will separate their volleyball teams on the court today. The connections between both states' volleyball teams, though, have been years in the making.

The last time the Penn State women's volleyball team played Tennessee was in Nov. 11, 1989, when freshman outside hitter Nicole Fawcett had yet to turn three. Before she was born, Tennessee women's volleyball head coach Rob Patrick was playing volleyball against Bob Fawcett, Nicole's dad.

"I played against her dad in Ohio," Patrick said. "I've seen her play quite a bit over the years when we were recruiting Chelsea."

Tennessee freshman Chelsea Noble played on the same club volleyball team as Fawcett. At 7 tonight, the No. 2 Nittany Lions (31-2) and the No. 17 Lady Volunteers (23-8) will face off in the NCAA Regional Semifinals at Rec Hall.

The winner of that match will advance to the Regional championship at 4 p.m. tomorrow at Rec Hall, taking on the winner of No. 6 Hawaii (27-6) and No. 8 Missouri (24-4).

If the Rainbow Wahine and the Lions advance, the match would feature good friends, in Penn State senior setter Sam Tortorello and Hawaii junior setter Cayley Thurlby. But Tortorello doesn't need to worry about the next round to see a familiar face either.

The Lady Volunteers setter, senior Julie Knytych, is a fellow Chicago native and played club volleyball against Tortorello. Going into the match, Knytych is atop the Tennessee career assists list. Tortorello has had a decent career of her own, ranking second on Penn State's career assist charts.

Knytych and Tortorello's matchup will just be the revival of old times. The two used to play each other almost every weekend in high school. Now that Tortorello is a name around collegiate volleyball, and the Big Ten Player of the Year, that doesn't change things.

"It's not that big of a deal to me," Knytych said.

"To be honest, I'm not really worried about people having names. The best thing you can have is a team that wins."

"We played each other when we were kids," Tortorello said. "She's a good setter, she has a lot of options and so do I, so, we'll see what happens."

In the last round, the Lady Volunteers, led by Knytych, defeated No. 22 Minnesota in five games, a team that Tennessee's senior libero Amy Morris thought she'd be playing often four years ago. Morris was recruited by Rose, but transferred from Penn State after her freshman year.

Senior libero Kaleena Walters remained a Lion, and became Penn State's all-time career leader in digs. Morris is third on the Lady Volunteers' list. Walters has talked with Morris on the computer a couple of times.

Rose, Fawcett and the rest of the Lions are working towards an appearance in the NCAA National Championship match next Sunday in San Antonio. When asked if he would be playing in a dome -- like the Alamodome -- someday, Rose had a quick response.

"Some day or Sunday," Rose said.