Tonight, Nicole Fawcett will take the court in an NCAA tournament match for the 14th time in her career. Three of those matches have been against Long Island, a team she will now face for the fourth time in as many years.
The Nittany Lions debuted its 2007 NCAA championship banner in this season's home opener against Long Island. The other three matchups with the Blackbirds have been in the tournament.
Now, the top-seeded Lions (32-0) will begin their stretch for a chance to hang the 2008 national championship banner in Rec Hall against the same Blackbird team they faced on Sept. 5. The Lions and Blackbirds will meet at 6 tonight in Rec Hall in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Should the Lions advance, they will face the winner of the Yale and Ohio match at 4 Saturday. Both teams were swept by the undefeated Lions during the regular season.
Before the tournament field was announced, junior outside hitter Megan Hodge expressed concern for not having much film on teams. Now Hodge -- who forgot the Lions even played the Blackbirds this season -- isn't worried.
"At the end of the day a team is gonna show you what their plan is for you within the first 10 points of a game anyway," Hodge said.
And Long Island (19-11) is used to the tournament atmosphere in Rec Hall. The Blackbirds met Penn State in the single-elimination tournament three of the last four years.
"Comical," Fawcett said of facing Long Island once more. "The NCAA selection is supposed to be a strict thing, and all these things were happening that were mind boggling."
Fawcett was shocked the selection committee would potentially match up No. 12 Southern California and No. 6 Hawaii in the second round of the 64-team field.
Even Penn State coach Russ Rose, who served on the committee for four years, seemed surprised it put his club in a position where it played all three teams in its early round matches.
"It's an equal advantage," Rose said. "The other team knows how we play as well. They have to come up with a game plan to close the gap from the last time we played, and we have to find a way to fend off whatever adjustment the teams have made since we last saw them."
The Lions swept the Northeast conference champion Blackbirds (25-8, 25-16, 25-9) earlier this year and figures to be an easy first-round matchup.
Hodge doesn't see it as such.
"That's what people get messed up," Hodge said. "They think it is an advantage to a certain team to have played them or beat them, but the tournament is a completely different animal.
"Everyone starts at zero," she added. "Yeah, you might be seeded higher, you might be this or that, but nobody's done anything yet. They have a fresh start even if their season didn't go as planned."
