Post by Barefoot In Kailua on Sept 17, 2004 3:48:55 GMT -5
Penn State Classic will serve as tune-up
By Tim Ford
Collegian Staff Writer
The No. 5 Penn State women's volleyball team (6-0) looks to extend its unbeaten streak tonight against The University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
All three of the visiting teams that will be participating in the Penn State Classic this weekend have never managed to scrap together a win against the Nittany Lions; if the Lions can again sweep through their opponents this weekend, they would march into the Big Ten season undefeated for the first time since 1998.
The Lions bring a huge swing of momentum into the weekend after knocking off No. 12 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., a week ago. But Penn State can't just rest on its laurels.
"We need to get better," Penn State volleyball coach Russ Rose said. "I think when you start talking about letting up and taking it easy, that's when you get beat."
Rose indicated that he was not familiar with some of the nuances of UMBC (5-4), Yale (0-2) or West Virginia (3-4). Developing a game plan isn't quite the same in volleyball as it would be in some other sports.
"I don't have any tapes or anything along those lines," Rose said. "You just need to play. We need to play better than we played last weekend. Because other than beating Stanford, I thought that in our other two matches we played bad and sloppy."
Some of the Lions shared their coach's feelings, but were a little more relaxed on their approach to tonight's match-up.
"These teams we're facing this weekend are not as strong as last weekend," sophomore defensive specialist Kris Brown said. "Of course we know that, but we also have to go in this weekend and play as if we were playing Stanford."
Penn State's bench is slowly regaining some depth as players who sat early in the season with injuries continue improving. Sophomore middle hitter Cassy Salyer is still relatively limited in practice due to her lower leg injury.
"I'm not at 100 percent yet," Salyer said. "I'm just doing the things [the coaches] say I can do so that I can hopefully get back to that point."
Salyer has shown her toughness by playing in every match so far this season despite the injury, and is fourth on the team in hitting percentage at .324, fourth in kills with 51 and fourth in kill attempts with 105.
More help will come from freshman Melissa Walbridge, who made her first appearance in limited play last weekend. She had been out due to an illness, but now the Lions have fresh legs to come in off the bench.
Showing some love
Senior outside hitter Ashley Pederson, who notched her 1,000th career kill last Friday in the win over the Cardinal, will be honored after tonight's game between Yale and West Virginia before the Lions take the court against UMBC. Pederson is only the 16th member of the Nittany Lions to reach the millennium mark in kills.
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www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2004/09/09-17-04tdc/09-17-04dsports-09b.jpg [/img]
PHOTO: Jeremy Drey
Freshman outside hitter Kate Price spikes against two Quinnipiac players during the Lions 3-0 win Sept. 4
Women's Volleyball
Penn State Classic at Rec Hall
Today at 7:30 p.m. vs. UMBC
Tomorrow at 10 a.m. vs. Yale and 7:30 p.m. vs. West Virginia
By Tim Ford
Collegian Staff Writer
The No. 5 Penn State women's volleyball team (6-0) looks to extend its unbeaten streak tonight against The University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
All three of the visiting teams that will be participating in the Penn State Classic this weekend have never managed to scrap together a win against the Nittany Lions; if the Lions can again sweep through their opponents this weekend, they would march into the Big Ten season undefeated for the first time since 1998.
The Lions bring a huge swing of momentum into the weekend after knocking off No. 12 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., a week ago. But Penn State can't just rest on its laurels.
"We need to get better," Penn State volleyball coach Russ Rose said. "I think when you start talking about letting up and taking it easy, that's when you get beat."
Rose indicated that he was not familiar with some of the nuances of UMBC (5-4), Yale (0-2) or West Virginia (3-4). Developing a game plan isn't quite the same in volleyball as it would be in some other sports.
"I don't have any tapes or anything along those lines," Rose said. "You just need to play. We need to play better than we played last weekend. Because other than beating Stanford, I thought that in our other two matches we played bad and sloppy."
Some of the Lions shared their coach's feelings, but were a little more relaxed on their approach to tonight's match-up.
"These teams we're facing this weekend are not as strong as last weekend," sophomore defensive specialist Kris Brown said. "Of course we know that, but we also have to go in this weekend and play as if we were playing Stanford."
Penn State's bench is slowly regaining some depth as players who sat early in the season with injuries continue improving. Sophomore middle hitter Cassy Salyer is still relatively limited in practice due to her lower leg injury.
"I'm not at 100 percent yet," Salyer said. "I'm just doing the things [the coaches] say I can do so that I can hopefully get back to that point."
Salyer has shown her toughness by playing in every match so far this season despite the injury, and is fourth on the team in hitting percentage at .324, fourth in kills with 51 and fourth in kill attempts with 105.
More help will come from freshman Melissa Walbridge, who made her first appearance in limited play last weekend. She had been out due to an illness, but now the Lions have fresh legs to come in off the bench.
Showing some love
Senior outside hitter Ashley Pederson, who notched her 1,000th career kill last Friday in the win over the Cardinal, will be honored after tonight's game between Yale and West Virginia before the Lions take the court against UMBC. Pederson is only the 16th member of the Nittany Lions to reach the millennium mark in kills.
PHOTO: Jeremy Drey
Freshman outside hitter Kate Price spikes against two Quinnipiac players during the Lions 3-0 win Sept. 4
Women's Volleyball
Penn State Classic at Rec Hall
Today at 7:30 p.m. vs. UMBC
Tomorrow at 10 a.m. vs. Yale and 7:30 p.m. vs. West Virginia
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