SPOKANE, Wash. -- Penn State junior Christy Cochran has said that she and the rest of the Nittany Lion women's volleyball team didn't travel some 3,000 miles to the Final Four to return to State College without the 1997 national championship.

Well, Cochran and her teammates are now just one win away from their goal after sweeping pesky Florida, 3-0 (15-11, 15-12, 15-13), on Thursday before an energetic crowd of 10,284 in glistening Spokane Arena.

"That's why we came acrros the country, that's why we practice hard all year," Penn State coach Russ Rose said.

Though it was not a crisply played match -- Rose said his team never got into rhythm -- he'll take the win.

"We found a way to win three games we could've easily lost," said Rose, who will lead Penn State into its second national championship game at 3 p.m. EST Saturday against the winner of the Long Beach State-Stanford contest. The Nittany Lions played in the 1993 NCAA title game, losing 3-1 to Long Beach State.

Rose knows his team can play better than it did against the No. 8-ranked Gators, who fell to 34-4 but didn't do it without a fight.

"We're feeling good about the win," Rose said. "But we are not playing as well as we would've liked to have."

Florida outblocked and outdug Penn State, but where the Gators ran into problems was in their attack. They committed 30 hitting errors and hit .220 for the match.

"I thought in order for us to beat Penn State -- first we had to outblock them and second we had to eiliminate unforced errors. That's where we lost," Gators coach Mary Wise said. "Penn State plays error-free volleyball. They don't hit balls out of bounds. They keep the rally going. They make you impatient."

That's what happened in Game 1, as the Nittany Lions, who improved to 34-1 on the season and swept their 12th straight match, jumped on Florida from the get-go.

Game 1 -- or "the Terri Zemaitis Show" -- featured two 8-0 runs and some sloppy play from each team. In the end, however, Penn State and Zemaitis -- who finished the first game with seven kills, five digs and two aces -- were too much for Florida.

The Gators took a quick 1-0 lead and were behind by just 3-2 before Penn State went on its run to appear comfortably ahead, 11-2. But Florida -- playing before a full complement of cheerleaders, a rocking pep band and its cuddly Gator mascot wearing a Santa hat -- answered with an 8-0 run of its own to pull within 11-10.

Penn State then used a Zemaitis ace, a Gator hitting error, a blistering Zemaitis kill and another Florida hitting miscue to win Game 1, 15-11.

The Nittany Lions raced to a 3-0 lead in Game 2, but Florida, winners of the last seven Southeastern Conference titles, went ahead, 5-4. Again, though, Zemaitis helped thwart the Gators' momentum.

Zemaitis, a 6-foot-2 senior All-America selection and the only Penn State player with previous Final Four experience, contributed a pair of blocks to help the Nittany Lions take an 8-5 lead and get the small but vocal Penn State contingent seated in section 105 on its feet.

But the Gators weren't done, as they silenced the Penn State fans and kept the Nittany Lion mascot from performing his normal array of tricks. They stormed back to take a 12-11 lead and fought off a quartet of game points before a Carrie Schonveld kill gave Penn State an anything-but-easy 15-12 win in Game 2 and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Florida found itself in the same situation it was in against Wisconsin in the Central regional final -- down 2-0 and facing elimination. The Gators won that match, 3-2, to advance to the Final Four. There would be no miracle comeback against Penn State.

"We knew we needed to come out fast if we wanted to win Game 3," said Zemaitis, who was one of four Nittany Lions to finish with at least nine kills. Schonveld led with 17, while Zemaitis chipped in with 14 and Christy Cochran added 12.

The Nittany Lions jumped to a 9-3 lead in Game 3, watched Florida fight off five match points before they finally won, 15-13, to move within one victory of heading back to State College with the national title.

"This is what we've been waiting for," Schonveld said. "This is what we've been working for. We just want to have fun."

A win Saturday, no doubt, would be lots of fun.

Notes: Rose added to his impressive coaching resume Wednesday when he was named the Tachikara/American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I coach of the year. Rose, whose career record in 19 seasons at Penn State is 620-118, said Wednesday of the award: "It's very kind, but I'm not sure it's going to garner us any points (against Florida)." ... The national title match will be shown live at 3 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2 ... Florida has participated in four Final Fours since 1992 but has never advanced to the title match ... Penn State is just one of four teams to compete in each of the 17 NCAA women's volleyball national championship tournaments, with Pacific, Stanford and University of California-Santa Barbara the others.

PENN STATE 3, FLORIDA 0

(15-11, 15-12, 15-13)

(Thursday at Spokane Arena)

Stat leaders

Kills: Florida -- Jenny Manz 17; PSU -- Carrie Schonveld 17.

Blocks: Florida -- Heather Wright 8; PSU -- Terri Zemaitis 4.

Assists: Florida -- Nikki Shade 56; PSU -- Bonnie Bremner 56.

Digs: Florida -- Manz, Jenni Keene 17; PSU -- Lindsay Anderson 20.

Aces: Florida -- Shade 2; PSU -- Zemaitis 2.

Records: Florida -- 34-4; PSU -- 34-1.

Next match: Florida -- season over; PSU -- 3 p.m. Saturday vs. Stanford-Long Beach State winner in the Spokane Arena for the national championship.