On paper, No. 8 Penn State women’s volleyball has had an excellent start to the 2019 season.

The Nittany Lions have worked their way to an impressive 17-4, 10-2 Big Ten record and have remained in the top 10 of the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Divison I Coaches Poll every week so far this season.

But one aspect of their game has been noticeably lacking: They struggle on the road against ranked teams.

The Nittany Lions are currently 1-2 against ranked teams on the road. While this stat may not be initially startling, their two losses came in disappointing fashion. The first came in a dominant sweep by then-No. 13 Wisconsin. The latter occurred just last week, when Penn State challenged No. 8 Nebraska to a fifth and deciding set and fell apart in the final stages.

In order to compete in what is arguably the toughest conference in college volleyball, head coach Russ Rose knows his team needs to improve on the road.

“We have to get a lot better and it’s a totally different situation playing at home versus playing in front of 8,000 people on the road,” Russ Rose said. “We’ll have to clean some things up and that’s part of sports — seeing how players are going to handle the different situations.”

To make an impact outside Rec Hall, the Nittany Lions will certainly need to clean up their attack. They hit just .167 and .166 as a team against Wisconsin and Nebraska, respectively, and allowed the Badgers and Cornhuskers to hit .210 and .310 against them — giving the opposing squads the clear-cut edge on offense.

Rose and his players give massive credit to the many faithful Penn State fans who pack the Rec Hall bleachers whenever the team is in town. However, the longtime coach believes the Nittany Lions’ devout following makes it all the more challenging to carry momentum and play well on the road.

“Playing on the road is different than playing at home and certainly playing a team from a Power Five conference is different than playing the teams we played [in the Penn State Classic],” Rose said. “It’s a learning experience for some of the players — some of them haven’t played a lot.”

Rose has a point — perhaps Penn State’s weakness on the road can be attributed to inexperience. After all, 15 of the Nittany Lions’ 20 players are either freshmen or sophomores, and the growing pains of developing younger players have been a challenge all season long.

Nonetheless, Penn State’s players understand their weaknesses and work hard to address them — even when embarking on a road trip.

“With us, our serve and pass game might be a little shaky here and there, but that’s why we practice before we play [on the road],” outside hitter Allyson Cathey said. “That’s a big thing we work on is serving and passing, because that’s a big part of the game. That can make or break the game. I think, as far as our team dynamic, we try to lean on each other when we’re traveling and just get the feeling and get in a rhythm and then just go from there.”

Although the team takes great pride in working hard to play well on the road, many players also like to take their minds off of the game and take in the sights and sounds of their destinations. Middle blocker Serena Gray, for example, said she enjoys checking out farmers’ markets in each city.

Once they’re on the court in an opposing arena, players can have a tough time adjusting to the overwhelming crowd noise and lack of familiar faces in the stands.

“Sometimes [crowd noise] definitely gets overwhelming, but I think just with the experience and everything, you eventually kind of get used to it,” outside hitter Jonni Parker said. “Sometimes it’s awkward if it’s not there. But at the same time, I feel like once you’re on the court you’re kind of zoned into just that moment, too, with your teammates and your coaches, of course.”

The Big Ten is statistically the best volleyball conference in the NCAA, and Penn State will need to dominate in its next four-match road trip stretching from November 15 to November 24 to remain at the top of the conference. The team is currently tied with Nebraska for third in the conference — both programs are 10-2 in Big Ten play.

As tough matches loom and the end of the season draws near, winning on the road will become more important than ever. Despite their recent struggles, the Nittany Lions know how to approach these tough environments.

“I think we’ve got to come out with a good attitude every time we come to play,” Parker said. “We can’t think that it’s going to be easy when we go out there. We have to make sure we have the same mentality that we have to have a sense of urgency every time we step on the court and get things done.”