THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Wake & Co. impress at
By Jenny Vrentas
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER I jennyv@psu.edu
Linebacker Derek Wake was one of his [numbers] from the combine, except ducted at the NFL combine.
the shocks of the 2005 NFL combine he wanted to run again. He helped him- "We did a lot of those [combine tests],
when he turned in a 45 1/2 inch vertical self out today with the running." and we had a couple paths worked out
jump, the second highest of any player Wake was joined at Pro Day by eight for the players individually to see how
in attendance. of his former Penn State football team- they do," the scout said. "Like for Derek
Yesterday at Penn State's Pro Day on mates who have declared for this April's Wake, to see how he dropped, changed
campus, he was full of more surprises, NFL draft John Bronson, Scott directions and ran around and caught
as he turned in a 40-yard dash time in Davis, Robbie Gould, Andrew Guman, the ball. Or for Bronson, to see how he
the high 4.4 seconds range, appreciably Paul Jefferson, Zack Mills, Ryan Scott caught the ball, how his hands were.
faster than his combine performance of and Gerald Smith. The players had the Just position-specific drills to see how
4.65 seconds. opportunity to sit down and talk with they do and how they react; we give
Senior guard Tanisha Wright (33) drives baseline in a game against Northwestern. After losing in the Big Ten tournament
semifinal with tired legs, the Lady Lions begin the NCAA tournament in College Park, Md., after two weeks of rest.
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Coaches
split duties
preparing
for match
Penn State volleyball coach
Mark Pavlik and assistant
Dennis Hohenshelt divide
the pregame labor.
By Scott Cooper
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER I smcsool@psu.edu
For match-going fans of the ' , nn
State men's volleyball team, there L
be some confusion as to who's rtmnini,
the show during the Nittany Lions con
tests.
The confusion is understandable,
though, as head coach Mark Pavlik
often clad in a tie and sweater vest
remains seated on the end of the
bench, calmly charting serve-receive
patterns. As Pavlik does this, assistant
coach Dennis Hohenshelt can be found
shouting information to players on the
court, orchestrating substitutions or
just joking around with the Lions on the
sideline.
Pavlik and Hohenshelt do not have
the strictly defined roles that, say, a
baseball manager and pitching coach
would, but the two both have their
respective fortes.
"I specialize in the point-scoring
aspects: our serving, blocking, our
defense," Hohenshelt said. Pavlik, a for
mer Penn State setter, is responsible
for the direction of the offense. During
timeouts and between games Pavlik
can often be found talking with setter
Dan O'Dell about the team's offensive
strategies, while Hohenshelt might
address the team's other needs.
SPORTS
"He ran well today; he was fast," said
one NFC scout in attendance, who
asked not to be identified. "He took all
Penn State middle hitter, Keith Kowal attempts a kill against NYU. Penn State
hopes to continue its EIVA dominance this weekend.
vs. Mercyhurst
7 p.m. today
Rae Han, South Gym
"We both sort of throw ideas around
as far as what's going on at both ends,"
Hohenshelt said.
Hohenshelt, in his ninth year at Penn
State, will prepare the scouting reports
for tonight's match against Mercyhurst
in Rec Hall and tomorrow's against
Ball State in the South Gym, both at 7
p.m. Hohenshelt is responsible for
preparing the No. 4 Lions (17-3, 5-0
EIVA) for their opponents.
"I put the scouting repats together,
my first priority is to find how to stop
the other team ... I break down the
video during the season."
He and Pavlik have found success in
their '' +o stop opponents; the Lions
- better through their first 20
.....ches only twice during Pavlik's 11-
each of the scouts in attendance yester
day, before completing the position-spe
cific drills and the physical tests con-
year tenure as head coach. Of the three
losses this season, those to Hawaii and
Brigham Young came in the fifth game,
and the Lions avenged their loss to the
Cougars later on in the season.
The third loss this season was an
eye-opener, according to Pavlik. The
coach joked that he should have worn a
flak jacket to protect himself from the
shrapnel coming off the arms of the
Lions in the form of lousy passes in a
sweep at the hands of then-No. 1 UCLA
on March 8.
"Whether or not we can improve our
passing against physical serving teams
will determine if we'll be able to seri
ously contend for the NCAA Champi
onship," Pavlik said.
But before the Lions can look ahead
to a return trip to Los Angeles for the
NCAAs in May, they must first deal with
the 10 regular season matches remain
ing on their schedule. And there's little
doubt that neither Pavlik nor Hohen
shelt, regardless of their different spe
cialties, will allow their team to forget
that.
PSU Pro Day
them something they haven't seen look at that and see if they can develop
before and see how they react, if they him into a tight end."
pick it up fast." Both Mills and Guman also turned in
Due to Wake's impressive 40 time, the solid performances, as the scout said
fastest of all players in attendance yes- that Mills "threw the ball well; he
terday, he was the player the scout was showed some arm strength —he has a
most impressed with and the one he felt strong enough arm," and felt that
had the best chance of being selected in Guman was a smart prospect who ran
the draft. The scout was also impressed well for a guy of his size and had good
with the speed of Bronson, a tight end, hands for the football.
who ran the 40 in 4.6 seconds. "Guman's got a chance, he looked
"It will be interesting [to see what pretty good running around out there,"
happens] because he worked out well the scout said. "And everybody's always
today," the scout said. "Someone might See PRO DAY, Page 16.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Rested Lady Lions
prepare for tourney
By Nate Heckenberger
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER I nchll4@psu.edu
Come Sunday, it will have been 14 days
since the Lady Lions were knocked out of
the Big Ten tournament's semifinals.
The bad news for the team is that No. 4-
seeded Penn State has lived the past two
weeks with the thought of not winning the
conference tournament. The good news
is, however, this reprieve has given the
Lady Lions some much-needed rest head
ing into the NCAA tournament.
Penn State (19-10) will take on No. 13
Liberty at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday at the
Comcast Center in College Park, Md. The
game will be televised on ESPN2. The
Lady Lions are not expecting the extra
rest to go to waste with an early exit.
"I've been just resting up and relaxing,"
said senior guard Tanisha Wright, who
has averaged 16.6 points in her 10 NCAA
tournament games. "Because six games,
it's gonna be a long stretch."
Six games would mean an appearance
in the tournament championship game, a
place these Lady Lions have never been.
Last season they were ousted by Con
necticut in the Elite Eight.
For the seniors, their careers will avoid
extinction round-by-round.
"There's a sense of urgency now that
every game could be our last, and that
motivates you," senior point guard Jess
Strom said.
The Flames have made it to the NCAA
tournament nine consecutive years and
are led by 6-foot-8 senior center, Katie
Feenstra, the Big South's Player of the
Year for the past three seasons.
Penn State and Liberty have never
played each other, but the Lady Lions
know that in order to play the winner of
the No. 5 DePaul/No. 12 Virginia Tech
match up, no team can be taken lightly
this time of year.
"Around this time every game is gonna
be tough," Wright said. "You're not gonna
have the easy, cupcake games. This is
WRESTLING
Four Lions advancing
to 2nd round at NCAAs
Editor's note: The second session
of yesterday's National
Championship meet concluded too
late to include results in today's
edition.
By Chris Wooden
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER I cweeden@psu.edu
ST. LOUIS In front of a very loud
and raucous crowd inside the Savvis
Center, the NCAA Wrestling Champi
onships got underway yesterday.
Penn State nearly succeeded in get
ting all six of its representatives of
through to the second round.
Early in the day, Bryan Heller fell in
the final seconds of his match at 133
pounds.
Holding a 7-5 lead with a riding point
in his back pocket, Heller looked to
close out the match. His opponent,
Tony Curto of Bloomsburg, however,
managed an escape and a takedown.
Now, trailing 8-7 as the final whistle
sounded, Heller was forced to cash in
that point for riding time to send it into
overtime.
With momentum against him, Heller
allowed an early takedown.
At heavyweight, Joel Edwards was
in control of his match thanks to an
early takedown and domination on top,
and was set for the pin.
However, in the process of getting
his Eastern Illinois foe to the mat,
Edwards' shoulders touched the sur
face, resulting in a defensive pin at
3:52.
Penn State coach Troy Sunderland
stood there in shock knowing there
was nothing he could do.
"I was telling him to be careful, be
careful," Sunderland said. "I should've
told him to get out and allow the rever
sal but that's a tough thing to do when
you're in control of the match."
On the Web
For more coverage of men's and
women's lacrosse, men's and
women's tennis, baseball and men's
rugby visit www.colleglan.psu.edu.
FRIDAY, March 18, 2005 1 11
Womion's toinnumit
vs. Liberty
9:30 p.m. Sunday
College Park, Md.
Comcast Center
ESPI42, ESPNU
tournament time and everyone brings
their best."
After a week of rest over spring break,
this past week has been dedicated to fix
ing the things that went wrong against
Michigan State in the conference tourna
ment. In that game, Penn State gave up 83
points while letting the Spartans shoot
56.3 percent from the field. Michigan State
didn't necessarily have a stalwart defense
that night, giving up 76, but the Lady
Lions pride themselves on their defense
and it just didn't come through.
"Our defense let us down a little bit,"
Penn State coach Rene Portland said.
"That's something that is our forte so that
should be easily fixed. ... That's probably
the easiest thing for me to fix so that's
why I'm so optimistic. Our offense is doing
a great job right now. But our defense just
needed some rest."
Liberty only has two players averaging
double figures in scoring, with Feenstra
leading the team with 17.6 points per
game. Senior guard Kristal Tharp is the
second option, averaging 11.5 points.
Strom, who rolled her ankle in the first
half against Michigan State, said she'd be
fine for Sunday. Both she and Wright were
hurt down the stretch. Tired legs possibly
accounted for their combined 22-of-64
shooting in the Big Ten tournament, but
none of the five seniors want their last
game to come early.
"I'm more motivated and just really
excited," Wright said. "We want to go out
on top. Motivated, definitely. You always
have to be motivated going into the NCAA
tournament."
Eric Bradley, No. 4 seed in the 184-
pound bracket advanced, but it wasn't
easy.
Facing T.J. Morrison of Rider Col
lege, Bradley prevailed thanks prima
rily to a stall penalty in a 2-1 match.
Bradley had hoped to open up his
offense to avoid some of those close
matches.
Sunderland and Company were
enraged when Morrison appeared to
flee the mat when Bradley got into his
offense.
There were other examples that, if
converted, show that Bradley can pos
sibly come back to State College as an
NCAA champion.
"We knew it was a conservative kid
who stayed in good position," Sunder
land said. "When he had the single legs
up, we wanted him to convert the take
downs and open the match a little bit."
While Bradley, senior Adam Smith at
125 pounds and freshman Phil Davis at
197 pounds have all advanced to the
second round in their respective class
es, sophomore Nate Galloway, at 157
pounds, is the only Penn State wrestler
to make a third-round match thus far.'
With two decisive victories, Galloway
has dispelled the fact that he's just a
"wild card" participant
His defeat of No. 7 seed Matt Lebe of
West Virginia advanced Galloway to
the round of 16 and closer to All-Amer
ica territory
Galloway, who's endured a turbulent
season that included a major -decision
loss to now-No. 8 Joe Johnson of lowa,
has rebounded.
"He did a real nice job. He was able
to capitalize on a couple of takedowns
and a couple of close calls'," Sunder
land said. "The back points he was able
to get opened up the match. Lebe real,
ly had to really come after him and
that's where Nate can get some
nn.ints."