W. GYMNASTICS
vs. Pittsburgh
7 p.m. tomorrow at Rec Hall
With state bragging rights on the line, the Penn State women's gymnastics team will face the University of Pittsburgh tomorrow at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall.
Led by current Big Ten gymnast of the week Katie Rowland, Penn State looks to perform at a high level against a competent Pittsburgh squad. Starting the season off slowly by losing the first three matches, Pittsburgh (1-4) has rebounded with consecutive showings of at least 194 points. Ranked 27th in the nation, the Panthers have relied on a solid group of gymnasts, said Pittsburgh women's gymnastics coach Debbie Yohman. "We don't really have any stars on this team, so it's been a team effort thus far," Yohman said.
Led by the leadership of junior Diandra O'Connor and senior Natalie Sulpher, Pittsburgh, in Yohman's mind, is much better than its ranking reveals. "We've improved vastly since the first meet, and we have found a lot of success recently," Yohman said. Coming off a season-high score of 195.075 at the Denver triangular meet last weekend, No. 20 Penn State (4-4) still sees room for improvement. "We were happy with the results, but we didn't do the best we could do," Penn State women's assistant coach Jessica Bastardi said.
Slowed by a knee injury and limited to competing on the balance beam, senior Leslie Bair will decide today whether she will be performing in any other events. Forced to miss last week's meet due to illness, freshman Jennifer Orlando has returned and will compete tomorrow.
-- By Dan Good
DIV. I ICERS
at Michigan-Dearborn & Eastern Michigan
7:30 p.m. tonight, 3:30 p.m. tomorrow
They're all together again. For the Penn State ACHA Div. I Icers, who enter the home stretch of their season with six games remaining, it's good to have a full roster again.
The four players who left two weeks ago for the World University Games in Tarvisio, Italy, have finally returned to Happy Valley. Of those four, three -- senior forward Neal Price, junior forward Bill Downey and junior defenseman Curtiss Patrick -- should be healthy enough to play this weekend. Patrick, and Downey are both dealing with injuries, but have practiced this week.
Senior defenseman and co-captain Josh Mandel suffered a fracture in his foot, and will be sidelined at leastthrough this weekend. He will join sophomore defenseman Chris Rome, who is currently recovering from a torn medial collateral ligament, on the injured list.
Possibly the most important return, however, was that of Penn State coach Joe Battista, who was in Italy as head coach of the U.S. team. He, too, is suffering an injury -- a set of bruised vocal chords.
Price said it would be interesting playing against Michigan-Dearborn and its senior defenseman Eric Mannix, who was a member of Team USA in Italy.
-- By Steve Swart
DIV. II ICE LIONS
vs. Central Michigan
10:15 p.m. tomorrow at Ice Pavilion
The time has come for the game of the season according to many players on the No. 2 Div. II Penn State Ice Lions.
Ice lions coach Mo Stroemel said this will be a chance to see how the team will match up against teams in other conferences.
There is a possibility that Northeast Division No. 2 Penn State and Central Division No. 3 Central Michigan University will eventually end up in the same pool when it is time for the ACHA National Tournament, so this could be a precursor to a future meeting down the road.
For now, however, Stroemel believes this is a chance for the Ice Lions, and the Northeast Division in general, to show that it can compete with the other divisions. Stroemel hopes to dispell the the notion that the Southeast, Central and West divisions are more talented than the Northeast.
The game will be a showdown between divisions that has the potential to shake the foundation of the seeding system for the ACHA National Tournament.
-- By Adam Kuczynski
LADY ICERS
vs. SUNY-Buffalo
9:15 tonight & 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, Greenberg Ice Pavilion
in two of the most important regular season games of the year, the Penn State Lady Icers welcome the University at Buffalo to town this weekend.
With at least one out of two wins, the Lady Icers will likely wrap up the American Collegiate Hockey Association East's No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs.
The Freeze and the Lady Icers are quite familiar with each other after playing last weekend at Buffalo, with Penn State winning both games. Even with their success, Lady Icers coach Jeremy Sharpe is steering his team cautiously heading into the games.
"I think it's a double-edged sword," Sharpe said of last weekend's wins. "We're confident that we can beat this team, [but the Freeze] will come in more fired up and will have a pretty aggressive onslaught at the beginning of the game."
Forward Lauren Shaw agreed with Sharpe's assessment, adding, "I think we have a definite psychological advantage, but they can adjust their game to us."
-- By Russ Shelly
MEN'S INDOOR TRACK
hosts Penn State national Open
1:30 p.m. today & 10:15 a.m. tomorrow, at Multi-Sport Complex
With three wins in three meets this season, the Penn State's men track and field team is on a roll.
But that could all come to end if the Nittany Lions are not careful this weekend.
A total of 50 teams and over 1,200 athletes at the Penn State National Meet.
The Lions will be going up against the toughest competition they have faced all season.
Some of the teams that will be competing at the meet include Georgetown, Villanova, Virginia, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Clemson and Delaware.
With the Big Ten championship approaching rapidly, the Lions know that each meet is important.
"Every meet gives you an idea of how this team will perform at the Big Tens," Penn State men's track and field coach Harry Groves said.
On the field side, senior Chavous Nichols will be hoping to stretch his win streak in the triple jump to three.
A convincing win like the ones they have had in their other meets this season would be a major confidence boost to a youthful Lions squad.
-- By Nkruniah Makinwah
WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK
hosts Penn State national Open
1:30 p.m. today & 10:15 a.m. tomorrow, at Multi-Sport Complex
After two weeks of competition against less prominent schools, the Penn State women's indoor track team will get its first taste of national competition this weekend. Headlining the 50-team field along with the Nittany Lions are traditional track and field powerhouses Tennessee and Clemson.
The most competitive events to watch should be the distance and relay races, which feature three schools Georgetown, Villanova and Wake Forest that finished in the top 10 nationally in cross country.
"The distance races look really excit- ing," Penn State women's track and field coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "There are going to be some close races with some very high-caliber teams involved."
The focus in a meet of this scale also shifts more toward individual performances, rather than team scores.
Many of the athletes will look to improve on their marks from past weeks and aim for NCAA provisional qualifying marks.
"We're heading into this meet fresh," Alford-Sullivan said. "We're prepared for a new level of competition."
-- By Derek Levarse
M. SWIMMING
at Rutgers
1 p.m. tomorrow, Rutgers Aquatics Center
The No. 17 Penn State men's swimming and diving team is coming off a dominant performance last Saturday versus Michigan State where the Nittany Lions took first place in 12 of the 13 events.
This week the team veers off of its Big Ten schedule to face Rutgers.
"It's really hard scheduling Big Ten competition because they don't want to come to Happy Valley because of the expense," Penn State swimming coach Bill Dorenkott said.
"It's pretty much just a matter of coaches getting together and scheduling meets."
The Rutgers swimming program is considered to be an up and coming squad.
However, the matchup with Penn State looks even on paper, and if the Lions don't respect their opponent it could cost them.
Adding to the intensity of the matchup is the regional location of the schools and the desire for Rutgers to make a statement against a nationally ranked opponent.
Dorenkott referred to this as a possible battle for East Coast bragging rights.
Said Dorenkott: "They will be all we can handle and a little bit more."
-- By Chad Reott
W. SWIMMING
at Rutgers, vs. West Chester (Senior Day)
1 p.m. tomorrow, 12 noon Sunday at McCoy Natatorium
Coming off last weekend's stirring victories over then-No. 14 Indiana and Michigan State, the No. 20 Penn State women's swimming and diving team will look to tune up for the Big Ten championship tomorrow at Rutgers and at home for Senior Day on Sunday against West Chester.
The Nittany Lions have been hitting their stride of late, winning four straight, including victories over two ranked opponents in South Carolina and Indiana. Tomorrow will provide the Lions with another tough test, as the Scarlet Knights are undefeated in Big East meets and have garnered several votes for the top 25. Penn State diving coach Craig Brown said that the team is coming along as effected, and the wins are the added bonus.
"Earlier in the year we were trying to lay the foundation, so you have to let some other things go while you do that," Brown said. "It feels really good because the kids feel good about it."
On Sunday, the seniors will splash down for the final time.
"Hopefully the one thing that [the seniors) will be able to say collectively when they leave is that they left the program in better shape than they found it," Penn State swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott said.
-- By Joel Rineer
M. VOLLEYBALL
vs. Loyola & Alumni Game
7:30 p.m. tonight & 3 p.m. tomorrow, Rec Hall - South gym
The Penn State men's volleyball team lost to only three teams last year as it marched to the Final Four before losing to Hawaii.
One of those teams, No. 15 Loyola (Illinois), invades Rec Hall this weekend to try to improve its AVCA ranking and knock off No. 9 Penn State (2-2, 2-0 EIVA).
Loyola halted Penn State's 16-match winning streak last year, defeating the Lions in five games. The winning streak was Penn State's longest since 1997, when it won 24 straight. The match against Loyola was the only one that Penn State dropped in a 26-game span from January to April.
The teams have competed each year for the last six years, and no team has been able to string together consecutive wins against its opponent. The Lions are coming off a Tuesday night win against St. Francis, in which Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik described the team's play as uninspired and unemotional. Pavlik said that if Penn State exhibits the same lack of energy against Loyola, the team will be run out of the gym in a hurry. Penn State's AVCA ranking has dropped in each of the first two weeks, after the team began the season at No. 4.
Senior co-captain Zach Slenker said that he expects the team to come out with more energy during Penn State's alumni weekend. The alumni will play each other and then play the current Penn State team tomorrow afternoon.
-- By Sheil Kapadia
