A member of the Pride of the Lions pep band, which plays at the Penn State women's volleyball matches, held up a sign for the team after Saturday night's match. "Seattle's Best," it said in bold blue letters.

It remains to be seen if the third-seeded Nittany Lions (31-2) will be Seattle's best. But at very least, they've earned a trip there.

With two relatively easy wins this weekend in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, the Lions guaranteed themselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament's Seattle regional. On Friday, they beat Long Island, 3-0 (30-16, 30-27, 30-15), and on Saturday they beat Hofstra, 3-0 (30-20, 30-12, 30-19), in Rec Hall. Penn State is one of 16 teams remaining.

In both matches Penn State finished with over a .380 hitting percentage. And against Hofstra (24-7) the Lions put together a particularly solid effort, hitting .383 with four players with eight or more kills.

Important to make a statement before going off to Seattle?

"I think so," sophomore outside hitter Nicole Fawcett said. "I think, after seeing a couple of the matches that have been played throughout the tournament already, you've had some upsets and some games taken away from very good teams. So I think we wanted to come in a make sure that didn't happen and make sure we start off on the right foot."

Fawcett led the Lions against Hofstra with a match-high 13 kills on .435 hitting. She added three blocks to Penn State's season-high-tying 21-block effort. Sophomore middle hitter Christa Harmotto led with 11 blocks. Junior middle hitter Melissa Walbridge added seven blocks.

"I thought the scouting report really helped," Harmotto said. "When I know where the ball's going. The setter was very good at confusing me a couple of times. But I kind of knew who the go-to hitters were."

Hofstra was limited to negative offensive numbers thanks in part to Penn State's block and had -.030 hitting to finish the match. Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Engle paced the Pride with nine kills on .083 hitting.

But a key early on for the Lions was their serving. Sophomore libero Roberta Holehouse, who has one of the team's best serves, helped Penn State jump out to a 6-0 lead in the first game. Early on she was virtually unreturnable and finished with three service aces on the match.

"I think when we serve like that, then it allows us to get our block in position," Penn State head coach Russ Rose said. "I thought we served and blocked well. I thought we did the things we thought would be important in this match."

On Friday against Long Island (25-11), Penn State hit .381 on the match and again followed the lead of outside hitters Megan Hodge and Fawcett. Hodge, who was playing in her first post-season match, had 18 kills. Fawcett had 13 kills.

"What a great team we just played," Hofstra head coach Lauren Netherby said. "Obviously one of the best in the country."

This Friday in Seattle, Penn State will get the chance to prove it.