Penn State women’s volleyball started the second half of Big Ten play in the wrong direction.

Now, they must turn things around quickly if they want to have home-court advantage through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

Heading into the second half of conference play, the Nittany Lions had been playing better, winning six of their last seven matches. However, their slow starts and errors, especially in their service game, a theme in their inconsistent season, came back to haunt them in back-to-back losses against Michigan and Indiana last weekend. Now, they have nine losses on the season and are on course to hit double-digits for the first time since 2021.

Penn State is barely hanging on to ranked status, coming in as the last-ranked team in the latest poll after they started the season as the No. 2 team in the country. They risk being unranked next week for the first time since 2022 if they can’t overcome their setback this weekend. Despite the frustration, Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley said that her team is working hard to overcome it.

“We didn’t play well last weekend and clearly [the team] knows that, but it’s about how are we going to get better and what we can do. We need to just win matches,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “Frustrated, but they’re already down in the gym doing stuff and taking a little bit more control over what it is they can do to help the team. They’re working hard despite the frustration.”

Things won’t get easier for the defending champions. Starting on Friday, they will face No. 9 Purdue on the road before they play another road match two days later against Illinois. This season, Penn State is 4-6 against ranked opponents, but Friday’s matchup presents a new challenge for them. It will be the first time this season that the Nittany Lions will play a true road match against a ranked opponent, as all their previously ranked matches have been at Rec Hall or a neutral site.

Unlike Penn State, Purdue is coming into this match with a lot of momentum. They have won six straight games since losing to Nebraska and have a record of 19-3. As for Illinois, they have almost an identical record to Penn State at 12-9, with just one fewer win. They also have the same conference record at 7-5. Despite the challenge at hand, Penn State libero Lexi Gin is looking forward to getting on the road and overcoming last weekend’s setback.

“I’m excited. It’s always great to have a new opportunity with this team,” Gin said. “Push this week in practice, figure out a few things that we can work on, and get out there on the road and show a few teams what we’re made of.”

With eight matches left in the regular season, time is running out for the Nittany Lions to correct their lack of fast starts and the number of self-inflicted mistakes before the NCAA Tournament. That’s why Schumacher-Cawley’s emphasis in practice has been on improving their serve-and-pass game, and not letting a loss beat you twice.

Penn State hasn’t lost three straight matches since the beginning of the season, when they lost to Arizona State, TCU, and Kentucky. There’s a lot at stake for the defending champions heading into the Purdue match to show that they are not ready to go away despite their struggles this season. For that reason, Schumacher-Cawley talked about the importance of the last eight matches of the regular season.

“Every match for me feels like a must-win. You have to take advantage of being able to win on the road, but play well, and I feel like every match is not pressure, but we have to be really focused,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “There’s always a window of time in a match where you can take over, and we’ve struggled with that a little bit. I think the team is starting to understand when that has to happen.”