The Daily Collegian
Wrestlers preparing for day-long open tournament
By Mike Still
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
With more than 400 expected
competitors from all over the
country, an early-morning start
with non-stop, and marathon
wrestling to fol- === __ ==^
low, Sunday will WRF c TL i NG
be a long day at w « ESTLINe
Rec Hall.
The No. 5 Penn
State wrestling team will host the
Nittany Lion Open this Sunday,
with action starting at 8:30 a.m. on
Penn State's home mats at Rec
Hall.
One of the largest college
wrestling events of the year, the
Lions will see some of the coun
try’s best competition on Sunday
in matches that will test their
physical fitness and endurance.
“It's definitely hectic,’’ heavy
weight Cameron Wade said. “You
just have to go out there and be
ready, always be warm and just be
ready to wrestle."
As an open event, no team
Purple Eagles eyeing unlikely upset in NCAA tournament
By Emily Kaplan
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Scott Pennewill said there's a
chance Niagara can pull off a mon
umental upset
tonight when it
faces No. 8 Penn WOMEN’S
State in the first VOLLEYBALL
round of the , _
NCAA women's
volleyball tournament and that
chance depends on two very big
“ifs.”
“Well first. Niagara would have
to play a perfect match,” said
Pennewill. coach of the Loyola
Maryland women's volleyball
team.
‘And Penn State would have to
play the worst match in the exis
tence of their program."
While Pennewill said he, and the
rest of the Metro Atlantic Athletic
Conference (MAAC), will be root
ing for the underdog, he sees the
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scores will be kept throughout the
day and will feature both attached
and unattached wrestlers from
many schools.
The final list of competitors is
subject to change up until match
time, but coach Cael Sanderson
expects 17 attached and 13 unat
tached Nittany Lions to compete
on Sunday.
This list includes junior All-
American Frank Molinaro, the No.
2-ranked 149-pounder in the coun
try who will continue his come
back after sitting out the Lions’
first four dual meets of the season
with a broken ankle suffered in the
off-season.
Molinaro competed against
then-No. 24 Rutgers at the Sprawl
and Brawl duals on Nov. 21,
defeating No. 11 Mario Mason 4-3.
“He’s ready to go now and
should have no problem,”
Sanderson said of Molinaro.
“But we’ll take it one match at a
time."
Also, the list of different teams
that will travel to University Park
reality of the first-round matchup
at Rec Hall.
And he knows an upset is
unlikely.
Niagara a small liberal arts
university nestled less than five
miles away from the New York-
Canada border has just five
players on its entire roster taller
than 6-foot.
The Nittany Lions, meanwhile,
are the three-time defending
national champions. Their roster
features four starters who are
taller than 6-foot-3.
“When a team from our confer
ence plays a team in the Big Ten,
the Pac-10, the Big 12, there’s obvi
ously going to be a physical mis
match,” said Marist coach Tom
Hanna, whose team also com
petes in the MAAC. “That’s just
the way it is."
Pennewill has seen that first
hand.
His Greyhounds faced Penn
> Saturday,
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SPORTS
can also change up until Sunday
morning, but a handful of national
ly ranked squads are expected to
make the trek.
Central Michigan, Virginia
Tech, Hofetra, Pittsburgh, Lehigh
and Rutgers—all top-25 teams —
are likely to send wrestlers to the
Open and will pose difficult chal
lenges to the Lions.
Penn State has already defeat
ed both Lehigh and Rutgers this
season, taking down the Mountain
Hawks on Nov. 12 and the Scarlet
Knights and the Sprawl and Brawl
duals.
But the atmosphere of Sunday’s
meet will undoubtedly be different
this time around, as each man will
be wrestling on his own through
out the day in potentially numer
ous matches.
“You definitely still want your
teammates to win,” Wade said.
“But you’re not gonna be there to
cheer for them and that kind of
stuff."
“So you just have to go out there
and wrestle for yourself.”
State in a preseason tournament
last year.
Pennewill said he saw three
main differences between the
Lions and teams from the MAAC
Penn State is sim
ply bigger,
stronger and
faster.
“It's something
we talk about
when we’re
recruiting,”
Pennewill said.
“You talk about D’Errico
whether kids are
ready to make the jump from high
school to college. Then in Division
I alone, there are different levels.
And Penn State is at a different
caliber.”
The Purple Eagles (25-8) —who
earned their conference’s auto
matic berth with a sweep of lona
in the 2010 MAAC championship
are making just their second-
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Senior Brad Pataky, who is still coming into a tournament like this
nursing a left knee sprain, won’t is just taking it one match at a
be able to compete in the Open time, like it’s any other day,”
Sunday. Pataky said.
But as one of the most experi- “It’s early but everybody is feel
enced wrestlers on the squad ing the same, so just knowing that
Pataky will do what he can to help going out and giving your best
his teammates during the long, effort will hope you get the best
difficult day, offering any advice he results.”
can give.
“One of the important factors of To e-mail reporter massB6o@psu.edu
Quentin Wright (bottom) wrestles during the Nittany Lions’ media day.
Wright and his teammates will take part in the Nittany Lion Open Sunday.
ever trip to the NCAA tourna
ment. Niagara faced another Big
Ten opponent, Michigan, in last
season’s first round.
The Wolverines won in straight
sets.
Penn State (26-5) just clinched
its eighth consecutive Big Ten
championship.
The Lions are looking to set an
NCAA volleyball record tonight
with their 91st consecutive win at
home.
Hanna said while Penn State
has the obvious advantage on
paper, there is one thing that he
saw in the regular season that
could benefit the Purple Eagles.
“People are as tall as they are,
people are as big as they are, peo
ple have as quick of an arm swing
as they do,” Hanna said. ' And you
can’t change that between now
and the match. But the Niagara
team is as mentally tough as any
team I’ve seen, so hopefully that
Make your gift today at
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Friday, Dec. 3,2010 I
will help with the physical differ
ences between them and Penn
State.” "These matches are
played for a reason.”
Lions senior co-captain Alyssa
D’Errico said she knows the
Purple Eagles will give Penn State
as much of a fight that they have in
them. That's just the do-or-die
nature of postseason collegiate
volleyball.
But the Lions will be ready.
They’re not overlooking anyone.
"We don’t want to be that story
that gets released on the Monday
after the first weekend of NCAAs
about which No. 1 seed got upset
in the first round or the second
round," D’Errico said.
"We don’t want to be that team.
We don’t want to end our season
like that on an unfocused night
where we just overlook our oppo
nent.”
To e-mail reporter: exkso49@psu.edu