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NOTEBOOK MEN'S VOLLEYBALL Lions top Buckeyes at Outrigger Invite Seventh-ranked Penn State closed out its opening weekend with a 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-22) victory against No. 10 Ohio State (2-2) Jan. 12 in its final match of the Hawaii Outrigger Invitational in Honolulu. The Nittany Lions finished the tournament with a 2-1 record, having defeated Hawaii, 3-2, on Jan. 11 and lost to fifth-ranked UCLA, 3-2, on Jan. 10. Against the Buckeyes, three Penn State players posted double-digit kills. Sophomore Aaron Russell led the way with 13 on .391 hitting. Junior Peter Russell pounded 12 kills, while senior Tom Comfort put down 10. Redshirt freshman Taylor Hammond paced the offense with 41 assists, and senior Nick Turko had three aces. Redshirt sophomore Connor Curry had a teambest 11 digs, while Comfort led the Lions with four blocks. CHERUNDOLO CONTINUED FROM 41 the Eagles beat the Packers, 28-14, at home to force a playoff on Dec. 21. Pittsburgh had home-field advantage. The teams had split during the season, with the Steelers winning the first game at home, 35-24, and the Eagles victorious in Philadelphia, 21-0. But the Eagles were favored by three points because they had more talent, including future Hall of Famers Steve Van Buren, Pete Pihos and Alex Wojciechowicz. Beat writers had dubbed Pittsburgh the "no name" and "star-less" Steelers. Cherundolo was their best-known player, although there was a rookie end named Elbie Nichol who would one day be considered the Steelers' greatest tight end, at least until Heath Miller in this decade. Steelermania energized the city, and tickets were at a premium. Team officials said they could have sold 70,000 WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS Musto shines in win vs. Illinois-Chicago The 19th-ranked Nittany Lions earned their highest team score through two meets this season in a 194.150-191.700 win over the University of Illinois-Chicago on Jan. 12 in Chicago. Samantha Musto was the allaround champ with a score of 39.025. "We are really proud of everyone tonight," coach Jeff Thompson said. "I think we showed improvement in all areas. We continued to excel on the uneven bars and vault. We surprisingly struggled on floor, but we came up strong by hitting five of six routines on beam to finish out the meet." Senior Sharaya Musser posted the second-best all-around score, earning a mark of 38.600. the 800-meter race in 1 minute, 46.98 seconds Jan. 12 at the Nittany Lion Challenge at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. Loxsom's performance – the NCAA's best so far in 2013 – was one of 17 victories by the Nittany Lions on the weekend. In winning the 800, the senior bettered his own Ashenfelter facility record of 1:47.36 – set in 2011 – and also overtook Ryan Foster's 1:47.32 school record in the event, which had stood since 2010. SWIMMING & DIVING Nittany Lions defeat Missouri State Senior Casmir Loxsom set facility, school and meet records by winning The Penn State men's squad topped Missouri State on Jan. 12, finishing first in 13 events to defeat the Bears, 171-124. The Nittany Lions claimed victory in 11 of 16 events, with sophomore Nick Ankosko and juniors Sean Grier and John Hauser winning two events apiece. The women's squad defeated the Bears, 235-59, but was edged by Arkansas, 146.5-151.5, in the trimeet in Fayetteville, Ark. tickets if the game had been scheduled for Pitt Stadium instead of Forbes Field. But the euphoria was short-lived. The headlines in the Dec. 22 edition of the Pittsburgh Press told the story: "Eagles Make Rooney U Look Bad In Winning Eastern Title, 21-0" … "Crowd of 35,729 Stunned to Silence by Futile Steeler Squad." "No one seems to be able to put a finger on what happened to transform the usually alert, hard-fighting Steelers into a dull, inept crew going through the motions most of the time," wrote Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports editor Al Abrams. The Eagles went on to lose the title game to the Cardinals, 28-21, but with virtually the same veteran team back in 1948, they captured their first NFL title by defeating the Cardinals, 7-0, and won another in 1949. Meanwhile, the Steelers appeared to be cursed as they plunged deep into mediocrity for the next 25 years. If there was a curse, it may have started with the playoff loss to the Eagles in 1947 or Sutherland's shocking death from a brain tumor in April 1948 that shook the franchise and the city. After a 4-9 finish in 1948, Cherundolo retired and became an assistant coach in '49. He spent the next 22 years coaching with the Steelers, Eagles and Bears before leaving football in 1975. In 1947, Cherundolo was selected second-team All-Pro by United Press and was voted the Steelers' MVP. Those were his last awards until 2007 when he received his greatest honor. On the 75th anniversary of the franchise, Cherundolo was selected to the Steelers' 24-man All-Time Legend Team as the best center from the pre-1970 era. Not bad for a kid from Old Forge who waited tables just to play football for Penn State. TRACK & FIELD Loxsom sets PSU mark with victory in 800

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