Blue White Illustrated

N O T E B O O K WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL Eighth-ranked Penn State erased a seven-point de7cit in the 7rst set and didn't trail the rest of the match in a 3-0 (26-24, 25-11, 25-19) victory at Michigan State on Oct. 20. The Nittany Lions wrapped up a 2-0 weekend in the Great Lakes State, hav- ing defeated Michigan two nights earlier, 3-1. They headed back home with a 14-3 overall record and a 7-1 mark in the Big Ten. Penn State had won 7ve in a row heading into a match against Illinois on Oct. 23 at Rec Hall. The Lions used a balanced attack to sweep Michigan State, as 7ve players had at least 7ve kills. Kaitlyn Hord led the way, totaling eight kills on .467 hit- ting while matching a career high with eight blocks. Jonni Parker 7nished with 10 kills on .375 hitting, while Serena Gray tallied nine with a .389 clip. Tori Gorrell and Allyson Cathey contributed eight and 7ve kills, respectively. Penn State trailed 21-14 in the opening set before scoring 12 of the 7nal 15 points. Aces by Macall Peed and Kendall White were key to the comeback. Penn State carried that momentum into the second set, opening with a 6-0 run. The Lions were aided by four attack errors by Michigan State, none of which came on blocks. That run gave the Lions an 18-3 advantage in points from the time they trailed 21-14 in the previous set. White led the blowout in set two, to- taling eight digs and three aces. The Lions led big for most of set three, in- cluding an 11-point advantage at 19-8. Michigan State fought back to get as close as four, 22-18, but a kill by Gray eventually ended the match. WOMEN'S SOCCER Penn State extended its winning streak to 7ve games with a 3- 1 victory over Northwestern on Oct. 20 at Je9rey Field. Freshman Payton Linnehan scored two 7rst-half goals in the win. Linnehan got the Nittany Lions on the scoreboard in just the 7:h minute. Sam Co9ey sent a high, arching pass from beyond mid7eld over the Wildcats' de- fense. The pass allowed Linnehan to get behind the Northwestern back line and put a shot past a leaping goalkeeper. Over the next 14 minutes, the Nittany Lions tallied six shots. The 7nal shot by Co9ey was de8ected, and the Lions were awarded a corner kick. Co9ey sent it into the box, and the ball rolled out to Linnehan, who stepped into the shot with her right foot and found the bottom corner of the net to give Penn State a 2-0 lead. Ally Schlegel scored the Lions' third goal in the 62nd minute. FIELD HOCKEY The Nittany Lions had a late rally stymied at Michigan, as they fell to the ninth-ranked Wolverines, 3-1, on Oct. 20 in Ann Arbor. Anna Simon scored with 7 minutes, 59 seconds le: in the third period to cut Michigan's lead to 2-1. But the Wolver- ines responded with a fourth-period goal by Kathryn Peterson and held on for the victory, dropping Penn State to 4-10 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten. WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY Penn State ex- tended its unbeaten streak to four games with a 2-2 tie in the 7nal game of its nonconference series at Providence on Oct. 19 at Schneider Arena. The Nittany Lions (3-2-3) scored back-to-back goals less than 30 seconds apart in the waning seconds of the 7rst period from Brooke Madsen on the power play and Natalie Heising at even strength. Chantal Burke had another stellar out- ing in goal with 29 saves. Providence scored with 1:09 remaining in regulation to force the game to overtime. ■ ADMINISTRATION PSU names Petersen associate athletic director Kristina Petersen has been named associate athletic director for strategic communications. Pe- tersen, whose appointment was an- nounced Oct. 2, replaces longtime associate athletic director Je9 Nel- son, who retired at the end of July. "I'm ecstatic that Kris will be leading our ever-important Strate- gic Communications unit moving forward," athletic director Sandy Barbour said. "She possesses all the skills and expertise of a successful 21st century communicator, she's a strong and compassionate leader, and a dedicated Penn Stater." Now in her 14th year at Penn State, Petersen will oversee the communications strategy for Inter- collegiate Athletics' 31 sports. The Rochester, N.Y., native is in her 7:h season as the football communica- tion director a:er spending nine seasons heading the communica- tions e9orts for the women's bas- ketball team. ■

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