Sports in brief

Weimer gets first award of 2005 soccer season

Penn State senior forward Tiffany Weimer earned her first conference award of 2005 when she was chosen as this week's Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.

Runner-up for the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy last year and a candidate for the top collegiate player again, Weimer had a hat trick Friday night vs. No. 20 Washington and then followed it up with another goal vs. No. 9 Connecticut. Weimer's Big Ten honor was the 10th of her career after collecting six last season en route to Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honors.

Weimer's hat trick in the Lions' 3-2 victory over Washington was the third of her career. She not only scored four goals on the weekend, but notched both gamewinners for the Lions in their two top 20 victories, including the game-deciding score in Penn State's 2-1 win over No. 9 Connecticut. The pair of victories gave Penn State its best start since 1999, the first year the team went to the College Cup, and also earned the Lions the Penn State Soccer Classic crown.

Her eight points during opening weekend moved Weimer into second on Penn State's all-time career points charts with 153. U.S. National Team member Christie Welsh leads all Nittany Lion scorers with 216 career points. Weimer is also 19 goals behind Welsh on the career goals scored list for Penn State, amassing 63 goals thus far to Welsh's 82.

PSU's Walter awarded Big Ten weekly honors

Senior women's volleyball libero Kaleena Walters was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week following her performances against No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 Hawaii last week at the AVCA/NACWAA College Volleyball Showcase in Omaha, Neb.

It is the first career Big Ten weekly honor for Walters and Penn State's first since Syndie Nadeau earned the accolade on Nov. 29, 2004.

Walters was a mainstay in the Nittany Lion backcourt at the Showcase, posting a match-high 22 digs against defending national champion Stanford in front of 10,028 fans on Aug. 26. The following night against the No. 4 Wahine, Walters' passing aided the Nittany Lions in attacking at a .344 clip, also allowing three players to reach double-digit kill figures. Walters again recorded a match-high 17 digs, pushing her double-digit dig matches to 74 of the last 82 matches dating back to the 2002 season.

For the weekend, Walters recorded 39 digs, an average of 4.88 digs per game, and is now just 234 digs shy of becoming Penn State's all-time career digs leader as she stands at 1,452.