It's just a dropped set. One losing effort in 49 tries. Still, the Penn State women's volleyball team's third set loss to Iowa Friday night says a lot about who the top team in the country is.
Coach Russ Rose has been reminding us all season of his thoughts on his top-ranked Lions, and it's safe to say he does not see his team in the same light. Now, after a weekend in which the team dropped its first regular season set in nearly two years, it seems too early to say the Lions are the definitive No. 1 team in the country.
Penn State, Texas and Washington are the only three teams without a loss this season.
However, through the first six weeks of the season, the Lions have remained on top of the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-25 Poll and have yet to receive less than 50 of 60 possible first-place votes.
It's not fair to say the Lions are overrated until they play teams like Texas, Washington or even conference foes Minnesota and Michigan.
But it is also unfair to give the Lions and overwhelming majority of the first-place votes when they haven't proved anything this season.
Yes, they are two-time defending national champions and that does garner some sort of recognition, but even Russ Rose has said that this year's team is different and he hasn't given his team a first place vote.
At least four other teams in the top 10 have a better resume season this season than the Lions. That doesn't necessarily mean those teams would beat the Lions, but it does say that perhaps there should be more parity when it comes to the voting.
There is no question that this team has the ability to contend for another national championship, but it seems that many coaches have it in their minds that Penn State is untouchable.
If this past weekend is any indication, that is not true.
If the dropped set to Iowa does anything, it shows teams around the country and especially in the Big Ten that Penn State does have flaws. It seems at times that the players lost focus, and against Iowa the Lions admittedly were frustrated by a stingy Hawkeye defense in the third set.
With the other teams in one of the nation's toughest conferences knowing that it is possible to get to Penn State, the road will only get tougher for the Lions. As the team prepares to enter its toughest stretch of the season that includes three road matches with top-25 teams in the next two weeks, something needs to change.
Rose has been at Penn State for more than 30 years, and he knows what it takes to build a champion, but he can only do so much.
Judging from the player's reaction Friday night, they know what needs to be done, it's just a matter of doing it.
In two weeks, we should have a clearer picture of who the top team in the country is, but even then it won't matter until a champion is crowned Dec. 19 in Tampa, Fla.
Bill Landis is a senior majoring in journalism and is also a Collegian women's volleyball reporter. His e-mail address is wml5005@psu.edu.
