A AI Behrend Beacon
I II March 26,2010
■ www.thebehrendbeacon.com JL
March
Madness
living up
to its name
ELESE MERKOVSKY
senior reporter
As March rolls around, the
snow starts to melt and we re
alize the sun still exists. But if
you’re a sports fan like myself,
March means one thing: March
Madness.
March Madness is consid
ered one of the most exciting
tournaments in sports, and it
gives all of us who don't have
the time or patience to watch
and follow college basketball to
get our fix in a span of three
weeks.
The thrill of predicting a
champion through the bracket
system is much of the fun for a
fan. Whether it was for large
sum of cash or just for fun, it’s
a chance for any fan to be a
sports analyst for a little bit.
The chance for Cinderella sto
ries and the underdogs pulling
ahead of the top seeded teams
in this one loss tournament al
lows of some of the biggest up
sets in sports.
This year’s tournament took
upset to a new level. I for one
filled out my bracket with a few
upsets, but like most of the
ESPN anchors and sports jour
nalists, everywhere I had all
four top seeds making it to the
Final Four.
Within the first round, upsets i
were seen up and down the ;
brackets. As soon as it was i
down to 32 teams, Kansas was j
kicked out of the tournament i
by the major underdog North- \
ern lowa. Along with that, Cor- ;
nell beat Wisconsin. St. Mary’s i
beat Villanova, and Washington i
beat New Mexico. The Big East, j
one of the jjesx,cpnferenq>e£ jn j
all of teottegf ifekethatf,- ljfos*
only two
Sixteen.
Let’s just say my bracket
went down the drain at that
point. With having Kansas win
it all, I pretty much gave up, but
it gave me a chance to focus
more and enjoy these upsets. I
can now watch Cornell, who
plays in the underrated Ivy
League Conference, take on no.
one ranked Kentucky. As the
Elite Eight will be decided
within the next two days, all
eyes will be watching these
under dogs to see if they can do
the “impossible” and become
National Champs.
This tournament brings out
excitement in a dull sport’s
time, and allows for the com
petitiveness of both the ath
letes and fans. While this year
most of us are completely out
when it comes to our brackets,
we get to watch this Madness
unfold untill the final on Apr. 5.
SOFTBALL
Q & A
PSBlions.comn
Head coach Stacy Pondo looks forward to her team’s season.
Q: What has the team focused on during the offseason?
A: “We’ve got a young but talented team, so they’re trying to learn
the Penn State Behrend system. We try to get everyone to com
municate and talk with one another. From there, we just get into
learning the plays, the coaches learning about the players, espe
cially the new ones because we do have a lot of new faces on the
team this year, and work on the fundamentals. That is the key to
the success of our team.”
Q: What are some of the biggest differences you have seen in
this year’s team compared to previous seasons?
MEN’S TENNIS
Men's tennis dominates courts in a sweep
The men's team is off to a 9-5 win so far for the season as they came back well-practiced from
Florida , and looks to do damage in the AMCC conference in the second half of the season
SEAN NEELY
The distractions of bad
weather were not enough to
keep Behrend from success
fully handling Pitt-Greensburg
on Tuesday. Behrend blanked
Pitt-Greensburg by a final score
of 9-0.
Elliot Blackstone would con
tinue his successful first half of
the year by beating his singles
opponent by a 6-0 score. Fresh
man Chris Galvin also won his
singles match, by score of 6-0.
On the verge of the match,
junior John Michalko said “Pitt-
Greensburg has not been that
strong in the past, but we still
need to be ready to take care of
business.”
Behrend would, in fact, take
1 feel we certainly
have the talented
players and team
depth necessary to
get the job done.”
Shane Mosier
senior captain
care of their business
“I expect our depth will be a
contributing factor to our suc
cess as a team,” said head
coach Jeff Barger, according to
PSBlions.com. “With several
matches scheduled in the near
future, I will play more guys to
give everyone some much
KAELA BISHOP
needed rest."
Keep in mind, Behrend has
been without captain Shane
Mosier, who is out with a foot
injury. But, many players, in
cluding junior Jason Grosch,
believe that their depth as a
team has helped them have
success even with the loss of a
key player.
“It will be good when we get
Shane, a senior and captain of
this team back into it,”
Michalko said. “He is a vital
part of our singles and doubles
line- up.”
Mosier, even though he has
been out of action, has still sup
ported his team heavily. Be
fore the match, Mosier said, “it
is very noticeable that our level
of play in doubles have im
proved, and since doubles is
such a large part of a match, we
feel confident as a team to have
a chance to win any match.”
The doubles squad has been
strong so far as Kelly Manning
and John Michalko easily won
their doubles match by a final
score of 8-1.
staff writer
Lastly, Brad Nagel teamed
with Jacob Fling, and Jason
Grosch paired with Juan Santi
ago. Both pairings would win
their matches by a final score of
8-0.
It was key for Behrend to
bounce back, as it has recently
came off of its first conference
loss, which came to Penn State
Altoona on March 20 in a tight
5-4 match in Erie.
Shane Mosier, again reflected
on his team’s season by saying,
“with our goal of an AMCC
Conference Championship in
mind, I feel we certainly have
Senior Chris Galvin squares off in his singles match. Galvin is on the No. 1 doubles team, and plays No. 2 singles for Behrend.
s to win third straight AMCC title
“There are a lot of similarities. The team has good team chem
;ry, they get along well with one another, they have the compet
ive drive, and the team really wants to win. That’s more or less
le similarities. We lack one thing and that is, we are young. It’s
>t a bad thing, it’s a good thing.”
How has the lack of senior leadership affected this year’s
lam? Who has proved to be a leader thus far?
“We have no seniors on the team. However, we’ve got Maddie
ieser, Beth Papalia, and Ashley Gruber. Ash
is actually a junior school-wise but softball- uXMn'rn Innl/inn fonnor-rl
lS e she's a sophomore. The three of them We lOOKing tOWard
ive really stepped up. I don’t call them cap- _ xi_ - coacftn tn Q : Your team has been selected to win the
ins, we call them leaders. They have really I”' l*'C OCdbUll IU AMCC title for the third straight year. What
(come the leaders of the team. They’re the _x_ Thnw’i-q howlnri q as P ects have and will give this young team the
les who keep the team together. They’re the bldl 1... I I Icy IC I IdVIl ly d edge over their opponents?
les who get them together if something goes i_x rkf fi in ririht nfl\A/ that’c A: The ed 6 e * s com P et * t iveness. We’ve won
.ong. They keep the atmosphere fun. They Ul lull IlylllllUW, llldlb the AMCC championship in the past two years,
keep a good open communication between the xl. _ Kinnnot thinn that out of the last four years. The competi
team and the coaches and themselves. They’re II 1C Uiyycbl llllliy llldl tiveness is there. I’m very confident we’ll do
the backbone of our team.” i_ r iL. foam ” well and 1 m ho P in S we have the run for the
UUUIIIb lUI II 1C ICdl 11. AMCC championship once again. The team has
Q: Were there any surprises during the
staff writer
games played in Florida?
A: “I was actually very pleased about our
pitching. They did a tremendous job down
there. Really, we’ve got Emma Hahn as out returning pitcher and
we’ve got three freshmen pitchers who’ve never played collegiate
ball and they stepped it up. All four of them did an excellent job.
We were able to move people around and see who can play differ
ent positions. In that aspect, it was good to see that people were
flexible with moving to other positions. The freshmen stepped it
up and same with the upperclassmen. Maddie came through big
in the last game. She hit a homerun, and she hit just about all the
runs in that game, so she has provided some good qualities.”
Sophomore Travis Parke lines up a backhand in his match against Pitt-Greensburg.
the talented players and team
depth necessary to get the job
done.”
Behrend continues to find
success at the right time. Fur
thermore, confidence continues
to circle in the men’s locker
room, as it’s evident by their 4-
1 record in conference and
overall 8-5 records.
Other key wins include a re
cent win over Franciscan on
home courts in a cruising 8-1
win.
Also, they fought off D’You
ville on the Westwood Racquet
Club courts Mar. 21 in another
sweeping 9-0 shut-out perform
ance.
The men will turn their atten
tion next to Alfred College on
March 26, and another confer
ence match against Frostburg
State on March 27.
“I expect the team to bounce
back strong and continue win
ning conference matches in the
future,” Moisner said. “With
our goal of an AMCC champi
onship in mind, I feel we cer
tainly have the talented players
and team depth necessary to
Q: Which freshmen have the potential to start?
A: “Mary DeMino will start at shortstop for us. Beth Chidester has
been on the injured reserved, she didn’t even make the trip down
to Florida, she could possibly start as a freshman in the outfield.
Brooke Tarasovich is a pitcher, she’ll start for us. Laura Spiridon
will be starting a lot for us in the outfield. Morgan Griffin, who is
actually a sophomore, has transferred in and she’ll play. Everyone
is going to play; it just depends on how much they’ll play. There is
going to be freshmen who will step up and play.
There is definitely a couple who will start.”
Stacy Pondo
softball head coach
Q: What factors would you like to be known about your'team?
A: “Overall, things are going well. We’re looking forward for the
season to start. We start on Saturday against Altoona. I’m hoping
that things turn out well, and they should. They’re having a lot of
fun right now, that’s the biggest thing that counts for the team. If
you’re having fun, you’re going to win some games. If you’re not
having fun you’re not going to do as well. The key component
right now is that they’re having fun, they have great attitudes, and
they want to win. Bring on Altoona!”
get the job done.”
As for the championships at
the end of the spring season,
Coach Barger looks to take
down the remainder of the
competition in the AMCC con
ference.
“If we play solid doubles, we
should be in good shape come
championship time,” Barger
said. “We have solid singles
right now, and playing nine
matches already, as opposed to
other teams only having played
one or two, gives us a head
start.”
the potential to do a lot of damage in the con
ference. They’re young but they have a lot of
potential.”
orts