In a weekend where the magic number seems to be 900, Penn State's players and coach are more concerned with the number two -- two wins to start the Big Ten season.

The No. 3 Penn State women's volleyball team will have the opportunity to begin its quest for an unprecedented fifth-straight Big Ten title, while Penn State coach Russ Rose is awaiting one more victory for his 900th career win.

The Nittany Lions will host Michigan State at 7 tonight and Northwestern at 7 tomorrow night at Rec Hall to open the Big Ten season.

Although the weekend is set to be a huge stepping stone for Rose and this year's team, this weekend's opponents have been preparing to face the ranked Lions.

After dominating the conference with 11 championships since joining the Big Ten in 1991, the Lions are expecting to have everyone gunning for them.

Penn State's last game against No. 2 Stanford last weekend could even be used to its advantage going into conference play. The five-game heartbreaker put an extra emphasis on the team aspect of the Lions' game, senior middle hitter Melissa Walbridge said.

"I always think the best thing about a loss is another chance to play," Rose said.

"A lot of times, players don't have good focus when they're always winning or enough attention when they're always winning."

The competition within the Big Ten is reason enough for the players to be focused, Walbridge said.

The Lions enter the conference schedule leading in team hitting percentage with .343. The Lions also boast the top two hitters with junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto and Walbridge at .508 and .477, respectively.

The current statistics and history show the Lions have a good chance of winning the conference once again. However, the Lions aren't underestimating any opponent, starting with Michigan State.

"I'm just excited to get going, especially opening at home," Walbridge said. "You want to play at the highest level during the Big Ten season, and we've been working at practice to achieve that goal.

"We gotta make sure the underclassmen realize how important the Big Ten is. If you have one bad night, that can ruin your season."

Michigan State and Northwestern prove to be formidable opponents for the first conference matches. The Spartans are a squad similar to the Lions, Rose said.

They bring a nine-game win streak into tonight's game.

The Wildcats return an experienced group that has given the Lions some trouble in the past years. Northwestern has allowed the lowest hitting percentage in the conference so far.

"These are two teams that have beaten us, maybe not when these players were around but while I've been here, so I respect the fact that Michigan State and Northwestern have talented players," Rose said. "I don't ever look at it in a Big Ten match as an upset. It's the same word but a different interpretation. When you lose, you're upset because you lost, but other teams that work hard and have good players that work together, any team can beat any team on any given day."

Although the road is filled with potential difficulties, the Lions are looking to enter Big Ten play strong and healthy with the ultimate plan being to just "get it done," freshman middle hitter Arielle Wilson said.

This weekend's potential celebration of Rose's monumental win has not been getting too much attention among the players -- and Rose, especially -- but the milestone would be an added bonus to the Lions' chance at taking its first step to defend its Big Ten title once again.

"There are some teams that have players that have never beaten us so when teams are looking at goals and what they need to do this year, certainly for some of the teams that's an obvious goal," Rose said.

"I hope it's a hard goal for them to achieve."