Few colleges are as isolated as Penn State and Hawaii, a fact Rainbow Wahine volleyball transfer Ali Longo has come to know all too well.

State College is what folks around the world envision as the ultimate American college town, from its in-your-face football stadium to its creamery and perfectly plowed winter streets. Some people never leave the "campus," which is essentially all of University Park, Pa. Longo was the Nittany Lions’ libero her first two years of college.

Tonight, the transfer will start at libero for eighth-ranked Hawaii — an ocean away from anything, void of major professional sports and proud to chase its Rainbows, Rainbow Wahine, Rainbow Warriors …basically, whatever Rainbow is winning at the moment, no matter what it is called.

A year ago, PSU’s Happy Valley imploded. This week the focus of the implosion, 68-year-old former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, was essentially sentenced to life in prison for a child sexual abuse scandal that brought shame and sanctions to Penn State and led to legendary coach Joe Paterno’s fall from grace.

Students, athletes, faculty and an entire town will never be the same.

"It was hard," Longo said. "You could definitely tell around campus there was a big damper. Everyone was sad and you could feel it. People would walk around and you could tell everyone was hurt by what was going on. There was media everywhere so it was a pain in the butt. You learned to deal with it, but you know it’s not something you have to deal with normally as a student. Mostly, it was just sad."

Longo, who is from Colorado, characterized her transfer from one highly ranked program to another as "a financial decision." Her boyfriend, Jace Olsen, left the Nittany Lions’ men’s team and is now on the Hawaii roster. If he has half the impact Longo has had, men’s coach Charlie Wade will be ecstatic.

"She’s taken the strain off the coaching staff," Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "We were always worried about that position. She’s not perfect, but she just gives you a lot of confidence in that position. We don’t stress about her or anything she’s doing. …Overall we know what we have is very solid. That’s what she’s given me, and the team is confident that our libero is a solid player."

It took Longo about "two weeks of open gym" to feel comfortable with her new teammates. Her aggressiveness and volume grew by the day. She picked up Hawaii’s ball-control style — dramatically different from Penn State’s receive-and-rip formula — quickly. The staff has given her control of the back row.

"Where people stand and receive serve," Shoji says. "We outlined things for her, but she can feel how the game is going. She can bring somebody in or out of the formation. She is in charge of that. If she feels somebody is struggling she can push them out and bring somebody else in. She can do that before we have to call timeout and do it."

The stability Longo has brought to the court is palpable. Unfortunately, the campus around her is again under siege. The "Wonder Blunder" and its aftershocks dog Manoa as the Wahine pursue their annual chase of a fifth national title.

Longo has been there, done that. This is nowhere near what she went through a year ago, when coach Russ Rose brought PSU together early on and told the players to "still represent the school the best way possible and show people there is light at the end of the tunnel."

Shoji says there is "no question" he would have done the same under the circumstances, but his players have not seemed bothered by their school’s recent problems. There have been no meetings.

"It wasn’t the same magnitude, but we’re certainly going through some tough times at UH," Shoji said. "I would tell my players the only thing we can do is to do our job as well as we can do it. Nothing is in our control except the way we play volleyball and how we conduct ourselves as people. Try to be the best person you can be, represent the university and work hard to do the best we can in volleyball, too."

Longo describes Manoa’s problems simply, as "not so much of a distraction."

"You read about it, but it’s not something that stays with you," she explains. "It was a big deal when it happened, it got kind of blown up and now it’s kind of blown off for our team."

The focus tonight is on Northridge, which had two match points against Hawaii last time they played. It is also on replacing UH sophomore Jane Croson, suspended indefinitely last week for breaking undisclosed team rules.

"It’s always tough, whether you lose someone to injuries or team rules or whatever," Longo said. "But we talked about it and Jane is still supporting us 100 percent. It’s just different. We need to pick up a couple areas where she was super strong. We talked about picking up our game and getting through it and playing well when she can’t play."

"Distractions" — major, minor and everything in between — are just another part of college, it seems.