Russ Rose sat in his seat next to the scorer's table Friday night, taking in the action with his left leg folded over his right, jotting down notes, while he occasionally leaned over to talk to his assistants.
The head coach sat quietly and watched as his Penn State women's volleyball team defeated yet another opponent.
It was typical Rose fashion, except for the blue button-down shirt that had replaced his signature sweaters for the night.
But this win was no ordinary win. It was the 900th victory of his career, putting Rose with UCLA's Andy Banachowski and Hawaii's Dave Shoji as the only coaches to reach the milestone in NCAA Division I history.
The No. 3 Nittany Lions opened Big Ten play with two victories this weekend when they defeated Michigan State (30-13, 30-17, 30-17) on Friday and Northwestern (31-29, 30-23, 30-13) on Saturday.
Even though he had joined elite company, Rose did not want to talk about his accomplishment.
"My only thoughts on 900 was I thought we had it last week [against Stanford] in Yale," he said.
"We can talk about the volleyball team and not talk about things like that."
While Rose did not want to discuss the historic victory, his players were glad to be a part of the milestone.
"It's certainly an accomplishment," outside hitter Christa Harmotto said. "I was glad we could get that 900th win for him. For as long as he' been here and the tradition he's upheld, he continues to do that and just keep rackin' them up."
Harmotto led the Lions against the Spartans with a career-high .917 hitting percentage (11 kills on 12 attacks) and a season-high 11 blocks. It was her second career double-double.
Penn State had a season-high 18.5 blocks, none of which were solo blocks.
The Lions held the Spartans to -.011 hitting percentage.
A week after recording 28 kills with 16 attack errors against Stanford, Penn State outside hitter Nicole Fawcett struggled through two games with one kill and a .000 hitting percentage. But in the third game she got her swing back, finishing with seven kills and a .316 hitting percentage.
"The biggest thing at end of the match was to get her confidence back," outside hitter Megan Hodge said.
"She's feeling a little shaky on swings and maybe get her the ball some more so that she can have that confidence for the end of the game."
After an upset victory at No. 23 Ohio State on Friday night, the Wildcats came out firing against the Lions in the first game Saturday. Eventually, Penn State took the first game and cruised to victory on the heels of some strong left-side hitting.
Fawcett responded with a match-high 21 kills on .436 hitting and Hodge chipped in with 14 kills.
But even though he did not want to acknowledge it, the weekend belonged to Rose.
After Friday night's match, Penn State President Graham Spanier and Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley recognized Rose in front of a standing ovation.
Flanked by his son Nicholas and the team, Rose was presented with a miniature Nittany Lion statue, a replica of the shrine that he has passed numerous times in his 29 years of work at Rec Hall.
"It's an unbelievable accomplishment," Curley said.
"He's obviously been successful over a long period of time. It's just been a real credit to not only Coach Rose, but certainly all the student-athletes that have played for him."
