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When Alisha Glass accepted a scholarship to play volleyball for Penn State, she became part of one of the most successful programs in Division I women's volleyball.

The Nittany Lions are one of only three programs to earn berths in every NCAA Tournament and one of just eight schools to have made five or more appearances in the Final Four.

Penn StateAlisha Glass has led Penn State to an undefeated record and a No. 2 ranking.

Since the NCAA began sponsoring women's volleyball in 1981, only 10 players have held that position on a permanent basis for the Nittany Lions. Four of those setters -- Michelle Jaworski (1987-90), Salima Davidson (1991-94), Bonnie Bremner (1996-99) and Sam Tortorello (2002-05) -- were four-year starters.

Each of those players were first-team AVCA All-Americans -- and Jaworski, Davidson and Tortorello went on to play for the U.S. national team. Davidson and Bremner led their squads to the national semifinals, but only Bremner won a Big Ten title as a freshman and a national championship later in her career.

Don't be surprised if Glass becomes the second Penn State setter to earn those same distinctions in the very near future.

Before the season started, coach Russ Rose considered running a 6-2 offensive system, which would have taken full advantage of Glass' versatility. But when freshman Jessica Yanz was slowed by an injury, the Nittany Lions switched to a 5-1 with Glass running the show.

"My intention was that she was going to be on the floor, but that she would be given an opportunity to be involved in setting," said Rose, who is one of only six Division I coaches to eclipse the 800-victory plateau. "I told her and the other setters who I was communicating with that I was leaning toward investigating a 6-2 system. Part of that was because of Alisha's offensive potential."

With five starters returning, including 2005 AVCA Freshman of the Year Nicole Fawcett, Penn State was ranked No. 2 in the CSTV/AVCA preseason Top 25 and received more first-place votes than top-ranked Nebraska. It became obvious to Glass that she would play a key role in helping the Nittany Lions achieve their primary goals -- a fourth straight Big Ten title and a return to the Final Four for the first time since 1999.

"It was a really good team coming back, and Sam [Tortorello] left really big shoes to fill," Glass said. "I had to work really hard and adjust really fast because they had high expectations for this season."

One thing that helped Glass make the transition from high school to college was enrolling at Penn State during the summer. Not only did that give her a chance to get acclimated to college life, she also had an opportunity to get acquainted with her teammates both on and off the court.

The Nittany Lions began the season with 11 consecutive nonconference victories, including three victories over teams currently ranked in the top 15. They won nine of those matches by 3-0 scores, but in victories at LSU and Texas, Penn State had to overcome a two-game deficit to remain undefeated.

"I was more surprised at the beginning, but now everything is starting to click and it's not a surprise anymore," Fawcett said about Penn State's 17-0 record. "When you start with a freshman setter, you never know what is going to happen. But the concerns aren't there anymore because her volleyball IQ is very good for as young as she is."

Glass has been just as effective in Big Ten play, leading the Nittany Lions to a 6-0 start in their quest for a record fourth consecutive conference title. Penn State is looking to become the first program to win four straight outright titles. The Nittany Lions shared the titles with Michigan State and Wisconsin in '96 and '97 before winning outright titles in '98 and '99.

Three weeks into the conference schedule, Penn State has already defeated the other four teams in the top half of the conference standings -- Purdue, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio State. Glass ranks seventh at 12.05 assists per game and eighth with 1.16 blocks per game. She is the only setter to be ranked among the conference leaders in both statistics.

As a team, Penn State leads the Big Ten with a .343 hitting percentage and with an opponent hitting percentage of .097. The Nittany Lions also are second in kills (16.52 per game) and a close third in assists (15.14 per game). Not bad for a team that will only get better as Glass gains more experience.

"We're still working with some things with Alisha and we're still making some progress," Rose said. "She's learning a lot about the nuances of the setting position, she's learning about some of the interaction skills with her teammates and the importance of establishing a rhythm."

What makes Glass' performance even more impressive is that she never trained exclusively as a setter before joining Penn State. She played almost every position in high school, leading Leland High School to the Michigan 2006 Class D championship while playing for her mother, Laurie.

"She really held me to high standards, so I wouldn't just play to the level I was at in high school," Glass said about playing for her mom. "She knew what to say to me and when to say it. If I was playing bad, then she was hard on me. It was good to have that type of coaching before I got to Coach Rose."

Glass set a tournament record with 48 kills in the championship match and later was named the Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year. Not bad for a two-sport athlete who never had the same type of club experience many top volleyball players received.

"She came from a high school situation where there were times she would set, middle block, left side hit and hit out of the back row," Rose said. "She didn't really have the traditional club environment, so she never really had some of the reps she needed."

That nontraditional experience helped Glass develop into a more versatile player who, because of her physical abilities, still has a tremendous amount of untapped potential. Combined with her leadership skills and coaches' perspectives, she has all the attributes necessary to continue the Nittany Lions' lineage of great setters.

At Penn State, great players and great teams are defined by Big Ten titles and trips to the Final Four, so there is still a long way to go for Glass and her teammates. The Nittany Lions will travel to Northwestern and Illinois this weekend to face two teams in the lower half of the conference standings. But don't expect PSU to look past those matches.

"A lot of people talk about the potential of our team, and it gets really exciting to think about it," Glass says. "Coach Rose keeps us grounded.

"He always talks about there being three parts to the season -- the preseason, the Big Ten season and then the postseason. We have to focus on our Big Ten season, get through that, and then get ready for the postseason. We have to take it game by game."

Dave Reed has covered college volleyball for national publications since 1996.