I Friday, Dec. 11,2009 NBA Houston at Philadelphia 7 p.m., CSN Portland at Cleveland 8 p.m., ESPN Orlando at Miami 10:30 p.m., ESPN NHL Carolina at Washington 7 p.m., TCN Dallas at San Jose 10 p.m., TCN NCAA Football William & Mary at Villanova 8 p.m., ESPN more online at: jLwpsucollegian.com Penn State ready for extended break After this weekend’s game against Niagara, the Penn State ice hockey team will take a break until Jan. 8 when a rough slate of games will welcome the team back to action. Nine ranked foes av dit Per n State For Penn State gymnastics coach Randy Jeps o n ’ s Lion gym nasts to obtain suc cess this sea son, the team must first run a gaunt let of nine Jepson nationally ranked opponents on a 10- team schedule. Distance runners pace Lions track After a cross country Big Ten championship and national championship appearance, the distance run ners on the Nittany Lions track team are dreaming of success this season. Lions look to relax during winter trip After two disappointing performances, Penn State will travel to Florida for its winter training trip before fac ing Florida State in January. PSU fencers train at home for Cup The men’s and women’s fencers head home to familiar coaches and camps for winter break, ready to prepare for the Junior World Cup. Lady leers to play in overseas tourney Three members of the Lady leers were selected to the ACHA National Select Team, but the team doesn’t know which inter- Chroman national team they will be playing. On this day in sport’s his tory: Dec. 11, 1951, Joe DiMaggio announces his baseball retirement. Thursday’s Answer: Behind Texas’ Mack Brown, Alabama coach Nick Saban is the second highest paid coach in college football at $4.7 million annually. Lions to be tested in FI By Bill Landis round of the NCAA Women’s “I think our best 355 the nation’s top collegian staff writer Volleyball Championship at 6 p.m matches this year out of high school b; Friday. With the regional sites were a couple of JJHMj and the 2007 Gal For three of the last four years it being set before == matches that we Mjßt Player of the Year, has had the luxury of playing on its the season start- WOMEN'S P la y e< * on the But it’s not her home court for a berth in the ed, the Lions knew un , , road,” coach Russ v’jßp have the Lions national semifinals. that this season VOLLEYBALL Rose said. “That’s style of setter she Now, the No. 1 Penn State would be different not to say that will In the mold of P' women’s volleyball team must travel to swamp country to keep its chances of a third-straight national championship alive. The Nittany Lions will take on the No. 16-seeded Florida Gators in Gainesville, Fla., in the third MEREDITH MONROE i$ S Jimmy Deve r Collegian Forward Meredith Monroe looks to pass the ball in Wednesday night's game against Monmouth. The senior is off to a good start this season, scoring 48 points and grabbing 40 rebounds in the team’s first nine games. Forward thriving in final year By Audrey Snyder COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER While walking along the streets of Seville, Spain, Meredith Monroe had plenty of time to reflect. But even thr ;h the tr aoug.i me town was quiet and the WOMEN'S shops were BASKETBALL closed, Monroe didn’t have time to take a siesta. So what if it was the hottest part of the day and the nearest gym Greene improves in latest win By Alex Angert COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Six-foot-four freshman Nikki Greene is tak ing baby steps. While coach Coquese Washington knows her young center is raw, she also knows the potential is there for u/nMPN’<; Greene to be a dominant post _ ~. player BASKETBALL After falling into early foul trouble often this season, the freshman took a step in the right direction with her play during Wednesday’s victory against Monmouth. “Coming into the game I told her, ‘Nikki, just make it to the first timeout, the media timeout, without a foul. If we can do that, that’s progress,’ ” Washington said. Greene answered her coach’s challenge making it to the first timeout without commit ting a single foul. Although she picked up four fouls by the end of the game, she only committed one during the first half of play allowing her to stay in the game. from the previous two championship campaigns. But the idea of playing the Gators on their home court does not have the Lions worried as they think the Big Ten season has them prepared to play in hostile environments. SENIOR SUCCESS was a mile away, the Lady Lions’ 6- foot-1 forward knew she still had shots to take and conditioning exercises to complete. Her team was coming off its worst season under coach Coquese Washington, and an 11-18 mark didn’t silGfell with one of the newly elected captains. It was going to take a lot more than soccer balls flying at her from athletes sharing the facility’s one gym to keep her off the court. Monroe was more than 3,000 miles away from her teammates while “I just think she’s getting smarter," Washington said. “She’s getting smarter with how to play with out reaching in and getting some fouls the unnecessary fouls.” Greene’s ability to stay in the game allowed her to focus on her play rather than whether or not she would foul out. It translated to the box score as she record ed her first double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds on top of two blocks. While she only made four of her 13 shots, she exhibited a confidence to keep putting up attempts that her teammates hadn’t seen in a game yet this season. “She had a great start. She stayed in the game. She did not foul out,” said senior Tyra Grant as she slapped Greene on the knee dur ing the post-game press conference and added how happy she is for her young teammate. “You can see what she can do when she’s there, and I feel like now this is a big confidence boost for her to know that when I’m in the game, this is what I can do.” happen Friday, but p ose I’m not concerned that this group can’t handle playing on the road. ’ What does have the Lions con cerned, though, is Florida’s sett er Kelly Murphy. Murphy was ranked doing a summer study abroad and, despite coming off of her best col legiate season, she felt she still had more to give. That same work ethic and con sistency that Monroe provides coming off the bench jpves the Lions an incresed sens e of confi dence. “She’s been through t;he fires,” Washington said. “And she just has this level of confidence about her self and about her game that allows her to come in and give us See MONROE' Page 14. See GREENE. Page 15 The Daily Colleglan ,'enn State setter Alisha Glass, Murphy is a setter who likes to get involved in the hit ting. But while Glass has regis tered 95 kills, Murphy has made herself a crucial part of the Gators attack, notching 313 kills. See FLORIDA, Page 15. PSU seeks major victory By Stephen Hennessey COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Keeping an Allen off the glass will be the key to victory once again for Penn State. In the team’s loss to Temple, Owls forward MEN’S LaVoy / lien BASKETBALL dominated the ====== boards, collect ing seven of Temple’s ,7 offensive re bounds. Penn State will face another Allen Virginia Tech’s junior forward Jeff DeChellis Allen who col lected six of his team’s 27 offen sive rebounds in its latest victory over VMI. Coach Ed DeChellis voiced his disappointment with the rebounding effort after the Temple game. He hopes his players will respond with a determined effort on Saturday against the Hokies. “[UMBC] was not a very big team. We will find out a lot about rebounding Saturday night,” DeChellis said following the Lions’ 58-42 win over UMBC. “I ,hink Virginia Tech is averaging 17 offensive rebounds a game. I will give you a better read on that after we play somebody with guys up front with some size.” If Penn State wants to accom plish its preseason goal of mak ing the NCAA tournament, this game is likely a must-win. Virginia Tech travels to the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday for a 7 p.m. clash, where the Lions are undefeated this season. With nonconference losses to Davidson, UNC-Wilmington and Temple, a showdown with Virginia Tech is the final oppor tunity for the men’s basketball team to add a quality win to its resume. “We will have to do a lot of lit tle things," junior forward Drew Jones said. “They have a lot of guys that can score. They have a kid, [Jeff] Allen, who has a big body and likes to attack the glass. We just got to defend and rebound. When we do that, we are a pretty good basketball team.” Chloe Elmer/Collegian Freshman center Nikki Greene tries for a layup Dec. 2 against Georgia Tech. recruit coming >y PrepVofleyball.com itorade National accolades that worried, it’s the is. See SEEKS, Page 15.
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