Welcome back to PSU Sports News everyone. After a slightly longer-than-usual hiatus, we’re back to cover the latest happenings in late winter and early spring sports here at Penn State. There’s a good bit that I missed because of THON last weekend – which, on a side note, raised over 13.7 million dollars, which is a new record – but I’m back and ready to give you all the juicy details in this week’s sports happenings. There’s a lot to cover this week, so let’s get into it.
Starting off with volleyball, we only had two games this week, but both of them were pretty much total blowouts. Our first game of the week was last Saturday against Saint Francis University, and we stole a clean 3-0 win from them. It wasn’t even a close game, with a 4, 15, and 5 point lead in each respective set. We followed that up tonight with another 3-0 win against Saint Francis College Brooklyn. This was another near blowout with sets of 25-17 and 25-14 to start the game, but SFCB brought it back to a close third set of 27-25, but we still took the clean sweep victory.
Basketball was a pretty even week, with us getting just as many losses as wins. The guys started the week off with a loss of 61-67 against Maryland, and the ladies started the week off with a win of 79-71 against Michigan State, both Monday night. The ladies lost though last night against Ohio State, but the guys brought it back tonight with a 67-60 win over Northwestern. It wasn’t the best week, and it wasn’t the worst week, but hopefully we’re able to pick it up with the time we have left in the season.
Ice hockey had a bit of a rough week for both teams, with the guys starting the week off last Friday with a 1-3 loss against U Minnesota. The women’s team tied 2-2 against RIT the same night. They brought it back the next day with a rematch victory of 2-0 though. The men’s team did not have that kind of luck in their rematch, losing again with a score of 4-6. They finally caught a break tonight though, with a 5-3 win over Michigan State, but the ladies did not have the same luck this time, taking a 2-4 loss against Mercyhurst in the first game of their College Hockey America Tournament.
Wrestling once more, needs no coverage, as we have stayed undefeated throughout the entirety of the regular season, ending it off with an enormous 45-0 victory over Rider University on Sunday. It’s safe to say a Big 10 Championship title is very close at hand.
The starts of the spring sports have been interesting so far. Mne’s lacrosse took a 13-15 loss to Saint Joseph’s this past weekend, but the women’s team started their season off with a bang on Wednesday with an 18-4 win over Duquesne. Baseball was one I was particularly excited for considering I have a friend on the team, but their start to the season has not been too hot, with a 1-10 loss to Monmouth last Friday. Softball, however, had a much better time with a 7-0 win over FIU and a 4-2 win over Cleveland State at the Panther invitational. Baseball had better luck the next day winning their first game 14-3, but losing their second one 8-11 against LIU. Softball lost 3-5 against Buffalo that day as well. They didn’t like that very much, so they dominated 10-0 against FIU Monday night. Baseball, unfortunately, lost 1-8 against Northeastern though. Softball ended the week off poorly, unfortunately, with losses of 4-6 and 0-2 against Georgia Tech.
Overall, an interesting week, and as the spring sports start kicking off we’ll have much to cover. See you next week folks.
Hi Om, this was another great blog. I love how you cover these sports. You give the high level synopsis without getting locked up in the jargon and niche details of sporting events. Getting into the sports, volleyball continues to be on a tear as no teams seems to be getting close to our volleyball boys. Similarly, basketball needs to get more consistent as the team beats ranked teams and loses to to teams that should be easy to beat. Likewise hockey needs to improve following this week. Finally, wrestling, the pride and joy of PSU, continues to live up to expectations. Looking forward to the spring season.
The lack of consistency within the basketball program really surprises me. Our roster certainly isn’t as star-studded as other years, but I’d expect after this many years of contending with top teams – and even winning an NIT Championship – that we’d be able to push our way into those upper echelons of D1 basketball. I guess for now we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed for future seasons.