Dec. 11, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The fifth-seeded and Big Ten champion Nittany Lion women's volleyball team (32-3) travels to Louisville, for a showdown with 12th-seeded UCLA (22-11) in the NCAA regional semifinals on Friday at 7 p.m. (Live coverage on ESPN3).
The winner of the Penn State-UCLA match will move on to face either No. 4 Wisconsin (30-2) or Ohio State (23-11) on Saturday in the regional final at 4 p.m. live on ESPNU. The Nittany Lions have played against all three teams on the draw in the Louisville Regional this fall. Penn State owns a 4-0 record against UCLA, Wisconsin and Ohio State. The Lions swept UCLA on Sept. 6 in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge.
"We've played UCLA and Ohio State and Wisconsin, as well," said head coach Russ Rose. "It's not one of those situations where you are looking to gather information on teams that you haven't seen play at all. We are familiar with all of the teams and recognize that all of the teams are very good. We hope that they feel the same way about us."
Penn State enters the weekend after sweeping Siena and Dayton inside Rec Hall in the opening two rounds of the tournament. The Lions have won 16-straight matches heading into the weekend. That streak includes 15-consecutive 3-0 decisions. Penn State has not lost a set since Oct. 17 at Purdue.
Since the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament began its current 64-team setup, the Nittany Lions have advanced to the third round of the tournament all 16 years. Penn State has played in the Regional Final match in 13 of the 15 seasons.
The NCAA field has been trimmed to 16 teams. Penn State's quest for a return to the national semifinals goes through the KFC Yum! Center this weekend. First up is a clash with UCLA on Friday.
"There's 16 teams left and that's just the way the weekend goes and at the end of the weekend, there will be four teams left, and your goal is to always try to be one of those four teams that's still standing," Rose said.