Weekend Sports Recap: Baseball Kicks Off Season With a Win
Penn State’s student-athletes were at their best this weekend as many of the school’s teams picked up big wins. The wrestling team headlined the weekend’s events with a big match win over a nationally ranked opponent, the Lady Lions won in front of 12,000 pink-clad fans, and the men’s tennis team matched the best start in school history. Here’s more on how Penn State’s athletic teams fared this weekend:
In front of their eighth annual “Pink Zone” crowd, the No. 11 Lady Lions defeated Wisconsin 78-68. Maggie Lucas led the team with 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. The Pink Zone hosted a record 698 breast cancer survivors.
In what was one of the most anticipated matches of the year, the top-ranked wrestling team defeated No. 5 Oklahoma State 23-12 on Sunday in front of 6,500 fans. No. 1 David Taylor remained undefeated this year, beating No. 5 Tyler Caldwell 5-2, and No. 2 Ed Ruth pinned the Cowboys’ Nolan Boyd.
The men’s hockey team played well against Michigan State, but couldn’t come out with a win on either Friday or Saturday in Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions trailed early in the opening game of the weekend series, but battled back to tie the Spartans on Friday night 2-2, earning one point in the Big Ten Standings. The Lions couldn’t keep up their two game point streak, however, and fell on Saturday 2-1. Penn State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but two Michigan State goals, including one with just over four minutes left, proved to be the difference.
Despite leading at halftime, the men’s basketball team couldn’t slow down No. 16 Iowa’s high-powered offense, and fell at home to the No. 16 Hawkeyes 82-70. D.J. Newbill led the team with 22 points, but Tim Frazier struggled, going just 4-for-17 from the field.
The baseball team split an Opening Day doubleheader, winning against Gardner-Webb 6-4 in the first matchup, and falling to the Bulldogs 7-3 later that day. The win was new head coach Rob Cooper‘s first for the Blue and White. The team will play 15 more games on the road before its home opener against NYIT on Tuesday, March 18.
The No. 58 men’s tennis team defeated No. 33 VCU 4-1 on Sunday, extending its season-opening winning streak to nine games. The 9-0 start is the team’s best since 1992.
The No. 12 men’s volleyball team swept both of its opponents this weekend, defeating NJIT on Friday, and Rutgers-Newark on Saturday. The team has now won ten straight matches after starting the season 0-2. Brothers Aaron and Peter Russell combined for 18 kills over the two matches.
Both the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams competed against Illinois on Saturday, and both squads were victorious. The No. 21 women’s team won 196.675-195.600, and the No. 7 men’s team won 436.050-431.150.
The softball team split two games in the Tiger Invitational on Sunday. The team defeated George Washington 9-1 in five innings, but then lost to Northwestern later in the day, 11-1.
The men’s golf team lost twice on Friday in the Big Ten match play championships, falling to both Minnesota and Michigan State, 4-1-0. The losses sent the team to the consolation bracket, where it defeated Nebraska, 4-0-1.
The women’s tennis team had a rough weekend, as it lost to Marshall 4-3 on Friday and to Penn 4-3 on Sunday. The losses drop the Nittany Lions’ record to 3-6.
The women’s ice hockey team fell to No. 8 Mercyhurst College on Saturday 4-0, and on Sunday 4-1. Hannah Hoenshell scored the lone goal for the Nittany Lions.
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