When shown the picture accompanying this article, Nicole Fawcett responded: "That's a good one, actually."

Look closely at Fawcett's expression.

It is affectionately referred to as 'Ferret face,' by the Penn State women's volleyball team. Credit senior Kris Brown with coining that term.

When jumping up for the ball, the 6-foot-4 sophomore outside hitter will curl her bottom lip and bite down with her top while flying through the air and connecting with the ball, creating an image apparently comparable to that of the furry mammal.

She's done so presumably since she started swinging at volleyballs.

"When I see the pictures, I'm just like that is horrendous. I can't fix it no matter what I do. They seem to get worse as time progresses," Fawcett said.

A joke circulated through Benjamin Logan High School in Zanesfield, Ohio, that the school newspaper must have had a vendetta against Fawcett, "because the pictures were so bad," she said.

Fawcett's father couldn't even deny the presence of the odd-looking mug.

"He was just like, 'What is going on here?' " Fawcett said.

She's been made fun of countless times, enough that she doesn't really mind. Fawcett isn't one to take herself too seriously.

"I think it's kind of funny. Having a face look like that? I mean, goodness," Fawcett said.

Yet she still longs for a day that she will leap in the air without what has become a trademark Ferret. Looking around at her teammates, Fawcett sees no reason why she should be hitting the ball with such a grimace.

"Megan Hodge has a fairly normal face when she hits and you look at mine, and I'm just like, 'What? This is horrible,' " Fawcett said.

Watch during matches, and you'll see, it's there every swing. As much as he did not want to, even Penn State head coach Russ Rose admitted he's taken notice.

"Half the game, she's on the other side and she's either facing away from me or she's on the far side and I can't see her face ... but that's a very attractive look," Rose said.

During practices, she's tried to hit the ball with her mouth closed after being teased by teammates. Those experiments didn't work.

When it comes time for matches, though, Fawcett said she's focused purely on her play. However she looks when she hits the ball doesn't make a difference, and based on her production over nearly two seasons, her teammates don't mind how she looks either.

Last year, she was named National Freshman of the Year. This year, she feels she's been hitting and serving with more power. She's averaged 4.24 kills per game, ninth in the Big Ten.

And she's done so while wearing her unique facial expression. It's part of who she is.