SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Penn State women's volleyball team started the 1997 season ranked No. 2 in the country and ended in the exact same position.

But in between the Nittany Lions spent nearly two months ranked No. 1, earned a share of the Big Ten championship and advanced to the NCAA title match before dropping a five-game thriller Saturday to Stanford.

"We knew physically we could win it," sophomore outside hitter Carrie Schonveld said after the match. "And I know if we played our best we could have. This wasn't the best Penn State volleyball that we played this year."

At times, the Nittany Lions -- as in their sweep of BYU in the Eastern regional final or during their exhibition match win over the U.S. National Team -- were unstoppable. At other times -- as when they lost at Wisconsin or escaped Northwestern with a five-game win -- Penn State struggled.

The season for the Nittany Lions, though, was anything but easy. They started by playing in the State Farm/NACWAA Classic at Stanford, where they defeated then-No. 8 BYU and then-No. 1 Stanford. Before the 1997 campaign ended, Penn State played 10 teams that at one time or another were ranked in the top 10, winning eight of those matches on its way to a 34-2 finish.

"We just love to win," Nittany Lion junior outside hitter Christy Cochran said. "That's what makes us successful."

By the time September ended, Penn State owned another victory over Stanford, the No. 1 ranking for the first time in school history and a 13-0 record. The Nittany Lions' first win in October -- a sweep over Illinois at home -- was the 600th victory at Penn State for coach Russ Rose.

"He's done a wonderful job and proven himself over the years," Illini coach Don Hardin said after the match. "It's an honor to coach against him."

While it might be an honor to coach against Rose, who ended his 19th season at Penn State with a 620-119 record at the school, it's never easy. The Nittany Lions beat Wisconsin on Oct. 4. And two days later they shocked the U.S. National Team.

Penn State kept on winning, and after beating Michigan State on Oct. 25 at Rec Hall, owned a 21-0 mark.

"I think Penn State's for real," Michigan State coach Chuck Erbe said after the match. "Penn State is going to embarrass a lot of people. I wish my team were like Penn State."

The Nittany Lion winning streak, though, ended on Halloween night at Wisconsin, as the Badgers won, 3-1, to pull into a first-place tie in the conference with Penn State.

"The crowd was definitely a factor," Cochran said of the Wisconsin loss. "There was a guy dressed as a nun running up and down yelling and screaming. It was just crazy."

The Nittany Lions found their winning ways again two days after that Halloween night loss with a 3-1 victory at Illinois. Penn State then swept through its final eight regular-season contests, finishing with a victory at Michigan State that gave it a share of the Big Ten title.

The Nittany Lions headed into the NCAA tournament as the top seed with a 30-1 record -- thanks in large part to their incredible balance.

Sophomore setter Bonnie Bremner was the Big Ten player of the year, while senior middle hitter Terri Zemaitis and sophomore middle hitter Lauren Cacciamani joined her on the all-Big Ten team. Cochran was an honorable mention all-Big Ten selection, while the other starters -- Schonveld and junior opposite hitter Lindsay Anderson -- were also threats.

Rose, the co-Big Ten coach of the year, entered his 17th NCAA tournament with one of his best teams and a balanced attack that made opposing coaches sweat.

Penn State showed off that balance with NCAA tournament wins over Northern Illinois, Ohio State and BYU to earn its third Final Four berth in the last five years.

"We're not traveling this far to come back with a loss," Cochran said before her team left for its 12-hour trek to the Final Four in Spokane, Wash. "We're going to come back with it all."

The Nittany Lions swept Florida in the semifinals and then lost a heartbreaker to Stanford in the final.

"We had all indications when we woke up this morning to win the national championship -- not because we wanted to say, 'We have one and Stanford has three' -- but because this group of athletes felt confident that had they played their best they would've had every right to achieve that," Rose said.

But when Stanford's Kristin Folkl's kill gave the Cardinal the national title in Game 5, it also meant the end to Zemaitis' brilliant career. The other five Penn State starters, however, return for the 1998 campaign, which the Nittany Lions will start with the nation's longest home winning streak of 36 and, no doubt, lofty expectations.

The 1997 edition, though, will be one that future Penn State teams are measured against. It made it to the national title game and came within one game of capturing the school's first-ever NCAA women's volleyball crown.

"This," Rose said, "was a great group of young people."