Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 126 sets in a row. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 132 sets in a row. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 141 sets in a row.

Set 142: Iowa beats Penn State, 26-24.

Penn State Nittany Lions, this is your wake-up call!

Here’s what Head Coach Russ Rose had to say in an interview with the Daily Collegian’s Andrew J. Cassavell about that third-set loss to the Hawkeyes:

“I’ve seen us at times have flashes of playing really great volleyball, and this weekend I saw us playing very uninspired. . . . In this conference if you play uninspired they’ll smack you upside the head.”

Like this, Coach?:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q[/youtube]

 

Coach Rose’s bottom line:

“If you don’t play hard as a team then it doesn’t make a difference if you have good players. . . . I don’t think that because we lost a game that it’s a precursor we’ll start losing matches, but we need to play harder.”

Senior Setter Alisha Glass said the loss reflected a less-than-stellar week of practice:

“It’s just representative of this week in practice. . . . We didn’t have a really strong week, and I think that’s the result. So you learn a lesson, and it’s good to learn a lesson earlier in the season.”

Senior OH Megan Hodge emphasized that the Nittany Lions need to learn from the loss:

“Situations like this you have to try and take something positive out of. . . . We lost a set, and it was all our fault. All of our errors were on us, and that’s something we can address tomorrow and the rest of the season.”

On Friday, we posted a short video of Michael Jordan speaking on that very point — the importance of learning from failure to achieve future success. We think it’s worth another look:

 

The Nittany Lions will face two tough contests this week — at Ohio State on Wednesday and at Minnesota on Sunday, so we’ll know soon enough whether this team will learn from this Iowa loss, work harder, and play with passion.

Or whether they won’t. In which case, they may get smacked upside the head. Again.