You are who your record says you are, as the old axiom goes. Now that Purdue’s schedule has stiffened up, its record is whispering louder.

“It’s a work in progress,” Purdue head coach Dave Shondell said.

The No. 10 Boilermakers (9-3, 0-1 Big Ten) dropped their third game of the last four Wednesday night, all against top-10 teams in the country. The latest was No. 4 Penn State (11-1, 1-1), which visited Purdue’s Holloway Gymnasium and made it theirs within the first smacks of leather.

Shondell said the Nittany Lions were the best team he’s seen this year in that opening set; afterward they were just another good team. It was still enough to beat Purdue 3-0, even as the Boilers crept back into the final two sets.

“That was not enjoyable for anybody,” Shondell said.

The Boilers travelled uphill into Big Ten play, playing No. 12 Kentucky, No. 9 Kansas and No. 6 Creighton in the span of six days last week, losing to the latter two. That level of competition is on par with the schedule here on out – No. 16 Minnesota is next up in a conference that now features 16 national championships since 2000.

Purdue knows what it’s up against. Scrolled in the top-left corner of the white board in its film room were two lines:

“Nobody strolls onto the court in this league and wins,” and under it, “Go out locked and loaded.”

The Nittany Lions shot onto the court; 8 of the first 10 points were theirs. They moved in cohesion, knees bending at once, leaving no spot of their half bare.

Purdue was disjointed. Senior libero Allie Hornung said the difference was that all six Penn State players were ready to go, and you couldn’t say the same for Purdue.

“We had some people out there trying to grind a little bit,” Shondell said. “But we didn't have six people on the floor that were really getting after it the way a Purdue volleyball team must.”

After laying down 25-14 in the first set and falling behind 18-9 at one point in the second, the Boilers clicked. They cut it to 19-14 on a 5-1 run, and won a marathon of a set down the stretch to bring Holloway to its feet and keep hope alive. But they were beaten too handily out of the gate.

The third set was more evenly matched, flowing like a dance in which each team would step forward, but with Penn State always one step ahead. Eight times Purdue cut the deficit to 1, and lost all 8 subsequent points.

Asked why the Boilers couldn’t take that consequential point, senior middle blocker Raven Colvin sighed – she didn’t know, honestly. Then she said what she thought, that Purdue was particularly slow defensively early on, and that gave Penn State confidence.

Both Shondell and Colvin pointed to the togetherness their team had last season, a year in which Shondell said Purdue overachieved and went to the Sweet Sixteen. They had grit, Colvin said. And while the senior and her coach agree there’s love in spades between the players on this roster, they haven’t developed that “X” factor yet.

“But it's a long season,” Shondell said. “I’m not losing my mind over this.”

He’ll tell his players, “Remember all these things I've been talking to you guys about all year?” he said. “And you guys are looking at me like I'm crazy? Maybe I'm not crazy.”

Allie Hornung said that winning makes you lose sight of your weaknesses. Shondell will assure you he’s had them pinpointed all year.

“We're not playing hard enough yet,” Shondell said. “We're not playing with enough discipline yet. We're not playing together yet. We didn't follow the game plan very well.”

Colvin knows it, too: “It’s just a work in progress.”