Somewhere within each of them, the memories of last weekend linger. The letdown against Wisconsin. The energy against Minnesota.

"We have it in the back of our mind how we played against Wisconsin and how we played against Minnesota," senior Ashley Fidler said.

"And there's a complete difference."

And with last weekend, tucked a bit further in their mental hard drives, are the thoughts of a road trip in late September when the Penn State women's volleyball dismantled Purdue.

"Last time we played them, it was probably our best match," Fidler said. "Everybody was talking, and we were hitting."

And this weekend, those lingering feelings of a loss and a nice victory last weekend, will get brought to the forefront.

The No. 3 Nittany Lions are slated to take on No. 14 Purdue at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall. Tomorrow night at 7, the Lions (22-1, 11-1 Big Ten) will meet Indiana.

But with the loss, last weekend brought a big win. Against the Golden Gophers, Penn State battled to come through with a tough five-game victory. The Lions were able to take with them things that will continue through to this weekend.

"I think we had a lot of energy in that match," freshman setter Alisha Glass said.

"We we're diving around, getting involved making great plays, and I think those intangibles that you carry if you can carry those into your games and then you can just play so much better."

Fidler agreed. "Just the way we ended the Minnesota match, we had a lot of energy and everyone was playing together and that's how were practicing," she said.

"And our mind-set is building off Minnesota."

Despite being fueled with plenty of motivation, having the opportunity to reassert themselves in conference play against a top-ranked Purdue team (19-4, 9-3) and a doormat Indiana team (10-14, 1-11), Penn State head coach Russ Rose said he wasn't particularly pleased with practice on Tuesday.

On Monday, he gave the team the day off and after Tuesday's practice, he said its intensity level wasn't where he'd expect it to be.

"I wouldn't cluster an entire emotion on an entire one hour or two hour block of time," Rose said. "But certainly as a group, I wouldn't say this is as strong a group that has as strong a direction and focus on some things in comparison to some other teams I've had. Kids give you what they're going to give you, and you can't squeeze something out that maybe doesn't exist."

But when Penn State meets Purdue, players and coaches said that they will have to be prepared for a "scrappy team." Led by sophomore outside hitter Danita Merlau and junior outside hitter Samantha Mader, the Boilermakers are hitting .250 with 15.80 kills per game.

And surely, they'll have the memories of the Penn State team that beat them 3-0 on Sept. 30.

"I think that we can't take for granted them coming in here and trying to get some revenge," Glass said.