It’s the first top-10 team of head coach Cathy George’s career with MSU. And with the ranking comes a shift in how the team is viewed on a national level.

“With that ranking, we’re no longer underdogs anymore,” said senior setter and co-captain Kristen Kelsay, adding the underdog mindset is one the team had carried with them.

As the sweep over Ohio State proved, the five-set victory over Penn State was no fluke. MSU has started its Big Ten season on a firm note, and the team anticipates the rest of the Big Ten has taken notice.

“(We have) to take that level of responsibility in knowing that everything that we do is going to be watched for now on,” junior libero and co-captain Kori Moster said. “But as a team, we have to keep controlling what we can control.”

Regardless if the team previously saw themselves as the underdog, head coach Cathy George said they don’t see being a top-10 ranked team as a different challenge.

“We’re just toned in on what we need to do for our team at the moment,” George said. “This team has been very good at keeping things in perspective, and there’s been times we haven’t gotten the credit we deserve, there’s times where we get more credit than we deserve. It doesn’t matter really, it’s what do we do in our own gym.”

With 18 games left in Big Ten season, Kelsay said it’s too early for the players to give themselves credit. The Big Ten is arguably the strongest conference in NCAA volleyball, and wins can’t be taken for granted.

“I think (the ranking is) something that you take with a grain of salt,” Kelsay said. “Rankings are exciting, but you don’t want to rest on those laurels because we know we have 18 matches in the Big Ten left.”

Last weekend was huge for the program, but wasn’t perfect from a team standpoint. After taking a 2-0 match lead against Penn State, the Nittany Lions bounced back to win the next two sets. MSU had to close out the match in set five.

The inability to close out Penn State late in the game shows the team there is still work to be done.

“We still know we can play better volleyball,” Kelsay said. “There were times we didn’t play our best, games 3 and 4 in Penn State. The outcome is what we wanted, but we still have room to improve.”