The white jerseys identified Penn State as the home team, but in reality, Saturday night's NCAA women's volleyball tournament quarterfinal against Washington was everything an away match is thought to be.

It was played on Washington's home court at Edmundson Pavilion, where the Huskies have not lost in more than two years, and where the Seattle regional was held.

The Nittany Lions, seeded third, were officially designated the home team over sixth-seeded Washington and thus donned the home whites.

But 6,549 screaming fans dressed in mostly purple and gold, and Washington players wearing the same, made the Lions feel every one of the 2,700 miles that separated them from cozy Rec Hall.

Defending national champion Washington (29-4) ended Penn State's national title hopes and its season, 3-1 (30-27, 30-24, 28-30, 30-26) in the round of eight.

"If you have a good team and you're hosting, you have a great chance," Penn State coach Russ Rose said. "If you have a good team and you're not hosting, you're in trouble, because it's not easy to win on the road."

Sophomore outside hitter Nicole Fawcett led the Big Ten champion Lions (32-3) with a match-high 24 kills on a .273 hitting percentage.

Freshman outside hitter and conference player of the year Megan Hodge had 17 kills, but appeared

rattled at times and finished with 15 errors. Her .039 hitting percentage was her lowest since she hit .000 in the Lions' 3-0 defeat Oct. 27 at Wisconsin.

"Their game plan is to wear you down, and I think Megan was a little frustrated at times," Rose said. "She's a young kid with a world of talent. One day you're great, and the next day you're learning a lesson."

Washington jumped out to a 10-5 lead to start the match helped by sloppy passing and ball handling by Penn State. The Lions, though, managed to tie the game several times, the last at 24-24, before the Huskies converted on their second game point to win 30-27.

Penn State began game two on a 9-2 run, but Washington tied the score at 13 and ended on a 9-2 run of its own, capped by a Fawcett serving error.

Late in game three, Rose called timeout with his team up 29-28. On the ensuing point, Fawcett drove a kill attempt into a Husky block that directed the ball out of bounds to give the Lions their only game of the night.

Ahead 21-20 in game four, the Huskies advanced to the national semifinals by winning nine of the last 15 points. Fawcett had four kills during the last seven points, but it was her sixth service error of the match that ended the Lions season.

"It obviously didn't end the way that I wanted it to," Fawcett said. "I just wanted to keep going at them."

After defeating 14th-seeded Purdue, 3-0 (30-24, 30-18, 30-15) in the regional semifinals Friday night, the Lions awaited the winner of Washington and 11th-seeded Ohio State. When the Huskies won convincingly, it confirmed the match-up that many players had been anticipating.

"It's exciting to go to an event where the defending national champion is playing in their home gym," sophomore middle hitter Christa Harmotto said last week. "It's definitely an advantage to them, but anything can happen on any given night."

Washington defeated Stanford, UCLA and USC at home this season. Two of those three -- Stanford and UCLA -- will be at next weekend's Final Four. On the road, the Huskies lost to those two teams, affirming that home-court advantage is significant in Seattle.

"Our university bid for [the regional] and we got it," Washington coach Jim McLaughlin said. "We are going to the Final Four because of that."