12 I Monday, April 12, 2010 Pitching powers Lions to shutout victory By Tom Kinslow COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER With an ailing Jackie Hill leaving the game after three innings, the pressure was on pitcher Lisa Akamine. The sophomore responded, throwing four SOFTBALL shutout innings en route to a 3-0 P< — State id 'enn State win anc weekend sweep of Wisconsin Sunday. Akamine took over for Hill, who left with an undisclosed injury. Coach Robin Petrini would only say the senior was sore after the game. The pitcher inherited a 1-0 lead and kept the Badgers at bay, allowing three "">0 AWAY Penn State rising senior midfielder Matheus Braga (7) heads the ball away from a Villanova defender in Saturday’s exhibition at the practice fields near Jeffrey Field. Penn State won, 3-0, largely because of the play of Braga and his fellow midfielders. For full cov erage of the soccer team’s exhibition: | psucollegian.com. Pre-Med Students Is your GPA3.2+? Would you like to EARN $ $ $ going to class? BECOME A NOTETAKER FOR NEXT SEMESTER CALL TODAY! VA Nittany XVi; Notes 238-0623 NITTANYNOTES.COM WE ARE Itenn State and WE READ The Daily Colie' hits and striking out four in her second appearance of the weekend. Saturday, the sophomore tossed six innings, giving up three hits and walking five while surrendering one run as the Nittany Lions (25-11,4- 2 Big Ten) topped Wisconsin (9-22, 0-6 Big Ten), 3-1. Since Akamine filled in for the senior at the start of the series, the pitcher said she tried to approach the start as if she were pitching in her nor mal slot behind Hill The aforementioned Hill came in to SPORTS close out Saturday’s game, registering her fourth save of the year. Akamine and Hill allowed a combined one run over 14 innings of work, an effort that was not lost on their teammates. “They were great this weekend fielder Ashley Griffith said. “They held them to little hits and little runs, so we were able to win both games because they had strong pitching out there.” Penn State Sunday, the Lions leaned on the duo until the fifth inning, when Penn State broke out offensively, scoring two runs on three hits and extending the lead to three. Wisconsin Prior to that inning, the Lions only man- Penn State coach Mark Pavlik want ed to see where his team was at head ing into this weekend’s West Coast trip. Two losses later, the veteran coach has a better idea. The No. 9 Nittany Lions fell to the No. 4 Cal State-Northridge Matadors in straight sets Saturday night in Northridge, Calif., 3-0 (30-27, 30-24, 30-25) to complete a weekend sweep. Including Friday’s 3- 0 loss to No. 11 UC Santa Barbara, the Lions failed to grab a single set during the weekend. But what Pavlik learned during the loss es was, while his team is exhausted physically and mentally, it can “probably beat an EIVA team” with the way it played. “I like what we did. This was definitely worth the trip out here,” Pavlik said Physically, the Lions were able to hang with the No. 4 team in the country throughout the first 40 combined points of each set. But when the time came to grab the essential points they needed to close out sets, the Lions couldn’t jump quite as high or swing quite as hard as their opponent. “We’re on a tank that’s less than half empty,” Pavlik said. The Lions led only twice during Saturday night’s match. At one point in the first set, Penn State held a 22-19 lead. After a Matador timeout, Cal State- Northridge went on a 7-1 run and ulti mately took the set, 30-27. Penn State did not lead the rest of the night. JoelConfer.com Taxes and tags extra. Financing available to qualified buyers. Not responsible for typographical errors. Prices available through 4/30/10. Matadors sweep PSU By Eddie Gentile COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Mentally, playing from behind took its JOEL CONFER’S AUTO OUTLET “Celebrating More Than 33 Years as Your Local Toyota Dealer” aged three hits in four innings, two of which belonged to Griffith. Following that outburst, Penn State notched three more hits, and the Lions believe that fifth inning was crucial in waking up the offense. It was Penn State's first sweep in the Big Ten this season, something the Lions believe is huge for their confidence. "Sweeping is a big thing, it’s not easy to do in the Big Ten,” Griffith said. “Any time you can sweep a Big Ten team it’s a very good thing. It'll definitely give us some momentum going into Michigan State this week." “You can’t let Northridge get easy leads on you. They can compete without being given any easy points.” MEN’S VOLLEYBALL toll on the Penn State players as well. The Lions had trouble controlling the amount of errors they registered as a Cal State- Northridge As a team, the Lions gave the Matadors 41 points in errors. Cal State-Northridge was able to bet ter control the ball, as it limited its errors to 28. The Matadors' management and defense proved enough to seal the Lions' fate. Penn State "You can't let Northridge get easy leads on you," Pavlik said. "They can compete without being given any easy points." Penn State (20-7) entered the match with the third-highest hitting percent age in the nation (.336). But during Saturday’s match, that offense was limited to .193 hitting against the Matadors. Senior co-captain Will Price regis tered a match-high 19 kills but was held to an attack percentage of .268. The opposite hitter also tallied eight attack errors and three service errors on the match. Joe Sunder was next in kills for the Lions with 11. But the sophomore outside hitter also had trouble finding consistency throughout the match and was limited to just .115 hitting, tallying eight attack errors. Pavlik said Sunder and his team mates now are in a rest and recupera tion period with one match in the next 17 days. "I'm ready to see the team well rest ed heading down the stretch,” Pavlik said. The Daily Collegian To e-mail reporter: tpksol6@psu.edu Mark Pavlik Penn State men's volleyball coach To e-mail reporter: ekgsol3@psu.edu ine reaches ilumni who 'enn State. into the Daily so distributed at game day. gian izine lurrowes St. irk, PA 16801
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