Darcy Dorton sees the dark-haired athlete on the other side of the net and knows that she is going to sprint up to the front line and run the two-ball.

She knows this the day before the match is even played.

The No. 1 Penn State women's volleyball team prepares extensively for each match, watching video, walking through plays on the court and reading diagrams on paper. Senior setter Alisha Glass said the intense scouting report pays off for the Nittany Lions on the court.

"We're really prepared," Glass said. "We know everyone's tendencies and patterns before we even get on the court. Having that

knowledge gives our team an edge."

Junior libero Cathy Quilico said the Lions go over the scouting report several times before the match is played, starting a day or so before competition.

She also added the coaches do a lot of their own preparation in order to create the scouting reports. Junior libero Alyssa D'Errico said prior to the team's first match against Minnesota, the coaches watched at least 10 of the Gophers matches on tape. She said the coaches then take that information and create the scouting reports they give to the players.

"They're very good at transferring the information to us and making our job very easy," D'Errico said. "It's good because he covers each type of learning. He has the video for visual learners, he has the walk through for people that have to go through it, and then he has it written down on paper for those who like diagrams."

Quilico, D'Errico and Dorton said they learn best from watching videos. Dorton said it helps being able to put a face to the number and being able to actually see what the players are going to do.

D'Errico agreed, saying she likes to be able to see where the ball goes on the court and to prepare for the match that way.

Glass, on the other hand, thinks that all the formats help her in a different way. She said walking through it helps her in terms of offensive play, while videos help her better understand defensive techniques.

"I think different things help me for different things," Glass said. "I think the variety and being able to see it from multiple directions is really helpful."

Despite all the preparation, however, the Lions admitted new members on the team have to adjust to the format. D'Errico said the diagrams can sometimes seem like gibberish and it takes a while to be able to break each part down.

Dorton expressed this confusion, saying her first few times going over the scouting report she was lost in what the diagrams were demonstrating.

"At first I did have to ask a lot of questions," Dorton said. "There's a lot of diagrams, a lot of arrows. You have to take a moment to decipher things and figure things out. It's a lot of information, and sometimes you forget some of it, but they're always there to remind you what you're supposed to do."

Glass admitted that nearly every team has intense scouting reports entering competition, but she said the Penn State staff works especially hard at making sure they get the right information to their players.

The Lions all agree the preparation is beneficial when it comes to matches.

"It really helps us to break down the game, because during a match things get going so fast and you forget things, but the scouting report gets us prepared," Dorton said. "It feels like we know what the opponent is going to do before they do it."