I Monday, Dec. 6, 2010
Bryan Meehan/Collegian
Women's volleyball players Blair Brown (9), Fatima Balza (3) and Deja McClendon (18) block a shot vs. Virginia Tech on Saturday in Rec Hall.
Lions sweep Hokies, advance
By Jake Kaplan
Before Saturday night's sec
ond-name! match. Virginia Tech
coach Chris Rilev
not to be
prised il they con
tended with Penn
State, the three
time delending national champi-
That turned out to be the case
as the Hokies hung with the
T - >'■ * .i-c
Wilson (7) unleashes a spike
Fast start
By Andrew Robinson
> A f : ,\ R Ip A
It took Alex Bentley just two
seconds to zip into the lane and
score tin game's first basket.
But instead ni
lotting their oppo
nent take over th<
early How ot Hu-
Same, the Penn
State Lady Lions
raced on! to a nine point lead over
visiting Texas Tech.
Bench play sparks victory after
reserves in big moments against
Duquesne on Saturday.
But his reserves proved him
wrong, helping lead Penn State to
victory while filling in for forwards
cm 5 1 coiiegian d.j. Jackson and Billy Oliver, who
Jackson (right) walks off the court, left the game after separate colli-
New York Jets at New England
8:30 p.m.. ESPN
Q: Before the Phillies, which team was
Jayson Werth most previously a mem
ber of?
Friday's answer: Zydrunas Ilgauskas
scored eight points in his first career
home game with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Nittany Lions,
making for a com
petitive second
round match in
the NCAAs at
Rec Hall on
Saturday night.
But ultimately,
Penn State pulled
out a victory in
straight sets,
sweeping Virginia Tech. 3-0 <25-22.
25-22, 25-13), to advance to the
NCAA Regionals for the eighth
straight year. The Big Ten cham-
Blocking key
By Ryan Loy
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
With Penn State's
struggling and the momentum in Suffocating blocking by the “We needed to block because I
Virginia Tech's favor, it seemed Nittany Lions made up for an didn’t think we would dig,” Rose
possible that Saturday's NCAA inconsistent offense, as the Penn said. “They run such a fast
second-round match would be State women's volleyball team offense behind the block. Really
deadlocked at a set apiece at (28-5) swept Virginia Tech (25-22, for us [Saturday], it was about
intermission. 25-22,25-13) Saturday at Rec Hall, blocking.”
Late in the second set. the Coming into the game, Penn That was especially true in the
Hokies had two chances to get State coach Russ Rose said he second set, when Virginia Tech
kills along the left side of the court knew blocking would be a key to See BLOCKING. Page 10.
propels Lady Lions
After that ini
tial surge, the
Lady Lions (7-2)
never trailed as
they defeated the
Lady Raiders (8-
1), 76-68. as part
of the Big Ten Big
12 Challenge
Sunday at the
Bryce Jordan
Center.
hSKETBALL
Redshirt sophomore Mia
Nickson led Penn State with a
After the bench shot only five
percent from the field in the
team's previous
game against
Maryland, coach MEN S
Ed DeChellis may BASKETBALL
have been reluc- - -
tant to use his
Penn State
Virginia Tech
offense
Penn State
Virginia Tech
By Alex Angert
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Lions post season-best times
The Penn State women's swim team
faced three of the top 10 teams in the nation
this weekend at the Georgia Invitational.
Despite finishing behind all three top 10
teams with a fourth place finish out of six
teams, the Nittany Lions were pleased with
the way they competed.
“The fact that we were keeping up with
them in races, and they’re teams that are
top, top in the country, was a really big
deal,” said sophomore Paige Whitmire, who
had a personal best time in three events on
the weekend.
To read the rest of Matt Clancy’s story,
check out psucollegian.com
pions, who have won 20 straight
postseason matches and an
NCAA record 92 straight at home,
will play Oklahoma on Friday
night at Rec Hall.
"It was a tough match against a
great opponent that played very
hard." Penn State coach Russ
Rose said after his team knocked
the Hokies out of their first-ever
NCAA tournament. "Anytime you
can advance in an NCAA tourna
ment. you put your next foot for
ward and you're pleased about
that' and try and recharge your
against a lone Penn State blocker, the Lions’ success. Rose said
Both times the attacks were sent Virginia Tech’s offensive style
straight down by 6-foot-5 Penn makes it difficult to defend
State senior Blair Brown. attacks from the back row.
career-high 26 points and pulled
down 14 rebounds, but it was the
team's early start that set the
(one.
"I thought that the 9-0 start by
Penn State really caught us in the
end.' Texas Tech coach Kristy
Curry said.
"We got off a slow start then it’s
a one-point game in the second
half, we just didn’t play it even in
the first half."
For the Lady Lions, starting
See FAST START. Page 10.
sions under the basket at the start
of each half.
The bench will need to carry
over its success against Mount
Staint Mary's on Tuesday, as the
Lions coach said neither player is
expected to play.
"IDuquesnei played pretty
physical." senior Talor Battle said.
"Some guys were getting hurt left
and right. Hopefully those two
guys on our team that got banged
up will be all right and get back out
there soon."
Jackson was the first to go down
after colliding with an opposing
player underneath the basket
three minutes into the first half.
Nationals acquire OF Werth
Some general managers had just arrived
at the winter meetings and some were not
even at the winter meetings yet when the
Washington Nationals made a startling
announcement Sunday evening: They had
agreed with right fielder Jayson Werth on a
$126 million, seven-year contract.
“I thought they were trying to reduce the
deficit in Washington,” new Mets general
manager Sandy Alderson said.
The 31-year-old Werth, who helped the
Phillies win the 2008 World Series title, hit
.296 this year in his fourth and final season
with Philadelphia. He had an NL-high 46
doubles, 27 homers and 85 RBIs.
“To just spend money wildly on people is
not the point. What we’re going to do is cre
ate an atmosphere ... of winning,” Werth
said on a conference call.
battery for even greater chal
lenges next week”
The first two sets were closer
than some of the Lion faithful
might’ve expected. The teams
went back and forth in the first
set, and a kill by Virginia Tech out
side hitter Justine Record tied it
at 19 before Penn State went on a
6-3 run, capped off by an Arielle
Wilson kill, to give them a one-set
advantage.
In the second set, the Hokies
held a 15-10 lead before the Lions
See ADVANCE. Page 10.
in victory
Bentley (20) drives to the hoop
injuries to
Following the injury, the senior
was sent to the hospital for pre
cautionary tests, which showed he
had a “stinger" in his neck.
Oliver, who was filling in for
Jackson, then left the game after
he hit his head following a collision
of his own in the paint at the start
of the second half.
Oliver, who has missed the last
two seasons with recurring
migraines, watched the rest of the
game from the bench with what
DeChellis called a “cutting
headache.”
DeChellis said he is hoping to
have both players play in a huge
nonconference road game against
The Daily Collegian
League
stays
with 12
teams
By Andrew J. Cassavell
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Last summer, college foot
ball’s biggest offseason storyline
was conference expansion
specifically in the Big Ten.
In the 2011 offseason, don't
expect to hear much of the same
talk.
In a statement released by the
Big Ten follow-
:s winl
meetings in FOOTBALL
Park Ridge, 111.,
the Council of
Presidents and
Chancellors
announced
will no longer
pursue expan-
sion following
this season.
“Although the
conference will
continue to mon-
itor the intercollegiate land
scape, it will not be actively
engaged in conference expan
sion for the foreseeable future
and does not expect to be proac
tively seeking new members,"
the statement said.
Twelve months ago, Big Ten
Commissioner Jim Delanv gave
the conference a 12-18 month
timeframe to investigate expan
sion.
The league capitalized in June
by adding Nebraska, which will
officially become the confer
ence’s 12th member next sea
son.
But Penn State Athletic
Director Tim Curley said that's
as far as the league will go at
least for now.
“We took a look at the college
football landscape, and we fig
ured that with Nebraska, we
were content,” Curley said.
At Big Ten media days in early
August, Delany said he'd
continue to look at expansion
possibilities as the season pro
gressed.
Now, with the Big Ten set to
enter the postseason, Sunday's
statement ended any question of
whether Delany would opt to
expand further during his self
imposed timeframe.
“We have been thoroughly
engaged in the process since
last December," Big Ten Council
of Presidents and Chancellors
Chair and Indiana President
Michael Mcßobbie said in the
OFor a link to quarterback
Kevin Newsome's first
recorded song, check out
ON THE the Footblog:
BLOG psucollegian.com
forwards
Virginia Tech this weekend.
With Jackson in the hospital
and Oliver on the bench three
minutes into the second half, the
Lions were losing by four and
struggling to find an answer
for Duquesne’s frantic style of
play.
At that point, DeChellis made
an adjustment in his game plan
and got a spurt of energy and pro
duction from freshmen Taran
Buie and TYe Bowman, who has
rarely played much this season.
See BENCH. Page 10.
More coverage on the Lions’ win vs.
Duquesne. | SPORTS, Page 12.
Temple snub shows flaws
A 1 Golden should be livid.
The coach of the 8-4 Temple Owls will be
sitting at home this bowl season after his
Owls were not one of the 70 teams picked
to play in a bowl this year.
The same Owls team that beat Fiesta
Bowl-bound and Big East Champion
UConn (also 8-4) earlier this season, will
be sitting at home while teams like 6-6
Middle Tennessee State received a bowl
bid due to a Sun Belt conference tie-in with
the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl.
These automatic tie-ins leave deserving
teams like Temple out of the picture and is
just one of the many flaws with the BCS
system.
See BIG TEN. Page 10.