Before practice, coach Russ Rose tacks a piece of paper to the wall in the locker room at Rec Hall.
Sometimes it's a sheet detailing passing statistics from the previous practice. Other times it's a list of the nation's top-25 teams -- Penn State's opponents are highlighted.
When Rose hung the preseason rankings up last week, a familiar name sat atop the poll. The defending national champion women's volleyball team will start the season as the No. 1 team in the country after receiving all but one first-place vote in the CBS College Sports Network/AVCA Coaches Poll.
Rose's club occupies the top spot for the first time since 1999, the year Penn State won its first national championship.
"The preseason No. 1 ranking is only based on last year," senior middle hitter Christa Harmotto said. "Our whole motto is new team, new year, same goal. It's only a label right now, obviously what matters is how you play in the end."
Senior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett calls the ranking a compliment mainly based off Megan Hodge's championship-clinching kill against Stanford last December. This year, Fawcett says the Nittany Lions have new expectations to live up to, one of which is trying to become the first team since USC in 2003 to repeat as national champion.
When Rose addressed the squad for the first time since being picked as the best in the country, he cautioned that opponents will be more motivated with a chance at knocking off No. 1.
"He mainly focused on when we play people we need to come out like we are No. 1," Hodge said. "When we can beat a team 3-0, we need to do it. Don't give anyone reason to think they can beat us."
Hodge says the team struggled early last year -- it lost its only two matches on back-to-back weeks in September. But seven returning starters should eliminate any early season miscues, Fawcett says.
"We're a very close team, and we didn't become that way overnight," Fawcett said. "When you have that confidence, it carries through the year. You have to look back and think, 'What am I doing wrong? What do I need to fix?' When we do struggle, it's when we're not working as well as we could."
Two of the teams highlighted on the Lions' schedule are UCLA and Hawaii -- UCLA is No. 6 and Hawaii No. 12. Those teams appear to be the best on the Lions' non-conference schedule and will take the first cracks at unseating No. 1 this weekend.
Repeating as national champion is in the back of the players' minds, but health and taking one game at a time takes precedence over having the same outcome the last time the Lions were preseason favorites, Harmotto says.
"We're certainly taking the right measures," Harmotto said. "We're the only team in the nation that can repeat."
