Two nationally ranked conference opponents visited Rec Hall this weekend, and despite some sloppy play early on, the Penn State women's volleyball team (17-0, 6-0 Big Ten) was able to remain unbeaten.

On Friday night, No. 2 Penn State beat No. 24 Minnesota, 3-1 (30-24, 25-30, 30-20, 30-26), and on Saturday, in a significantly cleaner performance, the Nittany Lions beat No. 13 Wisconsin, 3-0 (30-24, 30-22, 30-27).

Against Minnesota, the bright spot came from the left with freshman outside hitter Megan Hodge, who had her fourth double-double this season, notching 20 kills and 18 digs.

As a team, though, the Lions were held to only .219 hitting, far below their season average coming into the match (.355).

They were streaky, letting the Golden Gophers run off a few points at a time. The Lions were often at fault for the multiple-point rallies, as they committed 14 service errors and 27 hitting errors -- 11 of which came during a particularly shaky second game.

"It was not the Penn State team that played the first game at Purdue," sophomore middle hitter Christa Harmotto said, citing last weekend's victory. "We can't start off matches like that, especially against Minnesota. We have to change our ways, bottom line."

Penn State head coach Russ Rose thought so too. So, during a pre-match practice on Saturday, he decided to send a message to the team. He "said what needed to be said," and was able to wake the Lions up.

Right from the start against Wisconsin, the Lions looked crisper, all facets working in unison. On the match, Penn State hit .336 and totaled 17.5 team blocks, while freshman setter Alisha Glass distributed to the outsides.

In the middle, Harmotto was able to lead the Penn State block with a career-high-tying 13. Going into the weekend, Harmotto was seventh in the Big Ten in blocks per game (1.33), tied with teammate Melissa Walbridge, a junior middle hitter.

Walbridge finished with four blocks against the Badgers and sophomore outside hitter Nicole Fawcett had six.

"We knew their three key attackers and we knew how to block them and a lot of their blocking schemes," Harmotto said.

Wisconsin freshman outside hitter Brittany Dolgner did finish with 15 kills but only six came after the first game.

And outside hitters Hodge and Fawcett led the offensive attack for the Lions, with 12 and 19 kills, respectively. Harmotto was mixed in occasionally and had nine kills on .444 hitting.

"I think we knew we didn't play well last night," Fawcett said after Saturday night's match. "We knew we were going to have to play well and execute the game plan and I think we did that."