The landscape of women's college volleyball may be quite different from that of men's college volleyball, but the Penn State volleyball teams share one thing in common--success. The men got their season started last weekend at the Outrigger Invitational in Hawaii, where they recorded two wins and one loss.
Last season, Penn State made it to the National Championship for the third time in five years, but lost to Stanford in the title match. The Nittany Lions finished with a 24-8 record and won their 22nd Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) Championship. Penn State returns five starters from last year, including Joe Sunder, who led the Nittany Lions in kills last weekend.
The Penn State Icers rebounded from two tough losses by sweeping Robert Morris (PA) over the weekend. The Icers scored 16 goals over two important wins that kept them in the playoff hunt.
On Friday, Tim O'Brien got things started for the Icers in a 9-4 win by scoring the only goal of the first period. In the second, Eric Steinour got a short-handed goal to put the Icers up by two, but Robert Morris got one back six minutes later. Dominic Morrone, George Saad and O'Brien all contributed goals in the period, yet Penn State took only a slim 5-3 lead into the third.
Maggie Lucas broke the record for most three-point shots made by a Penn State freshman, and the Penn State women's basketball team cruised to an 83-62 victory over Illinois on Sunday afternoon.
Penn State started the game slowly but more than made up for it with great three-point shooting as the first half wore on. Facing a 9-2 deficit, the Lady Lions went on a 12-0 run that included a behind-the-back pass from Alex Bentley to Lucas, who hit the three-pointer. Illinois tied it at 16 before Penn State used a 10-0 run to break the game open. The Lady Lions went into the break-up 41-23 thanks to 14 points from Lucas and a great 46.7 shooting percentage.
Penn State men's soccer player Corey Hertzog was selected by the New York Red Bulls on Thursday with the 13th pick in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft.
On Thursday, Penn State students Corey Hertzog and Matheus Braga will be hoping to hear their names called at the Major League Soccer (MLS) SuperDraft held in Baltimore, MD. After illustrious careers on Penn State's Men's Soccer team, both players are expected to get picked in the three round draft.
The Penn State Icers came back from winter break by losing two games to Ohio last weekend. With the losses, the Icers' play-off hopes remain uncertain in a season that has seen Penn State play well below their own lofty standards.
On Friday, the Icers went down early to fourth-ranked Ohio, giving up a goal just four minutes into the game. Penn State let in three more goals in the second period, which forced goalie Teddy Hume out of the net in favor of Matthew Madrazo. Chris Cerutti scored in the third period to make it 4-1, and Madrazo stopped all 19 shots he faced, but it was not enough to overcome the four-goal deficit.