Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546586
O C T O B E R 2 0 2 6 51 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Penn State earned its biggest win of the young sea- son when it swept No. 4 Stanford on Sept. 11 at the Palestra in Philadelphia. Senior right-side hitter Kennedy Martin recorded her first double-double of the season with 14 kills and 13 digs to help the Nittany Lions prevail, 27-25, 25-20, 25-21. Fresh- man outside hitter Haley Burgdorf added 10 kills and 9 digs, while graduate outside hitter Whitney Lauenstein had 11 kills. The victory over the Cardinal was Penn State's 10th over a top-10 opponent in the past three seasons. It also evened the all-time series record between the two perennial powers at 14-14. Between them, Penn State and Stanford have won 17 national championships — nine by the Cardinal and eight by the Nittany Lions. The Lions were 6-1 and ranked 12th in the American Volleyball Coaches Associa- tion poll heading into a visit from Villa- nova on Sept. 15. Their only loss was a 3-1 defeat against No. 3 Kentucky on Sept. 6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Martin was leading the team with 76 kills, while Lauenstein, a Texas transfer, had 73. Redshirt senior setter Alexis Stucky had amassed 201 assists in her first season at Penn State following her trans- fer from Florida. MEN'S SOCCER: Penn State fell to de- fending national champion Washington, 4-2, in its Big Ten opener Sept. 11 in Seat- tle. Senior forward Amadou Kone gave the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead with a goal in the 33rd minute, but the 11th-ranked Huskies needed only five seconds to respond. Another quick scoring exchange fol- lowed in the second half. A little over a minute after Washington scored a go- ahead goal, Penn State answered with a goal by freshman defender Sheridan McNish after sophomore defender Joe Sheridan headed a corner kick into his path. But the Lions weren't able to rally when the Huskies scored again in the 59th minute, and an insurance goal in the 86th minute clinched it for the hosts. Heading into a Sept. 18 visit from No. 24 Michigan State, Penn State was 2-3 in its first season under head coach Rob Dow, with victories over Mercyhurst (3-2, Aug. 20) and Yale (1-0, Sept. 4). Kone was leading the team in points (7) and goals (3), while freshman goalkeeper Daniel Peluffo-Wiese had made 14 saves with a 2.20 goals-against average. WOMEN'S SOCCER: The Nittany Lions improved to 3-2-2 and 1-1-0 in Big Ten play with a 1-0 shutout of Minnesota on Sept. 13 at Jeffrey Field. Junior forward Aubrey Kulpa scored the game's lone goal in the 34th minute, while redshirt senior goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress finished with a pair of saves to earn her first solo shutout of the season. PSU outshot the Gophers 18-7 and held an 11-4 edge in corner kicks. Prior to Minnesota's visit to State Col- lege, the Nittany Lions fell to No. 6 Ohio State 1-0 in their Big Ten opener Sept. 10 in Columbus. They played two other ranked opponents in the nonconference season, tying No. 2 Notre Dame 2-2 on Aug. 16 in South Bend and falling to No. 22 West Virginia 2-1 on Aug. 20 in Mor- gantown. Through seven games, Kulpa was tied for 10th in the Big Ten with 9 points on 3 goals and 3 assists. Redshirt freshman for- ward Nicole Crane also had 3 goals to tie Kulpa for the team lead. CROSS COUNTRY: The Penn State women finished second while the men were third at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational on Sept. 11 at the Blue and White Golf Courses. Freshman Vivian Kipruto was PSU's top finisher on the women's side, placing fourth with a time of 20:45.4 over the 6-kilometer course. Graduate student Katie Dallas was right behind her in fifth place, finishing in 20:47.8. Senior Nick Sloff paced Penn State in the 5.2-mile men's race, finishing in 25:57.6 to place 15th. Sophomore Isaac Oppermann was 17th in 26:11.7. Syracuse won the team title in both the men's and women's races. — Matt Herb O L Y M P I C S P O R T S N O T E B O O K Forward Aubrey Kulpa scored the winning goal in the Penn State women's soccer team's 1-0 victory over Minnesota on Sept. 13 at Jeffrey Field. PHOTO BY BEN BURRELL/PENN STATE ATHLETICS