Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547107
5 0 N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: No. 18 Penn State swept No. 20 Wash- ington 25-14, 25-19, 25-23 on Oct. 11 at Rec Hall to improve to 12-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten. Senior right-side hitter Ken- nedy Martin delivered 14 kills and 13 digs, sophomore middle blocker Gabrielle Nichols added 11 kills on .562 hitting, and junior libero Ava Falduto collected 15 digs. Penn State never trailed in a set and held Washington to a .113 hitting percentage. The win over the Huskies completed a weekend sweep after freshman middle blocker Kendall Northern hit .923 with 12 kills and no errors in a 3-0 victory over Northwestern on Oct. 9. MEN'S SOCCER: Penn State earned its first Big Ten point under first-year coach Rob Dow with a 0-0 draw at Michigan on Oct. 9, ending a five-game losing streak. Freshman goalkeeper Daniel Peluffo-Wiese made 3 saves for his second shutout, helping the Nittany Lions move to 2-7-1 overall and 0-5-1 in conference play. The draw followed a 2-1 home loss to Ohio State on Oct. 2, when junior forward Etienne Reck scored his third goal of the sea- son. Penn State also challenged No. 2 Indiana before falling, 2-1, on Sept. 25, with senior defender Morgan Marshall scoring and Peluffo-Wiese saving a late penalty kick. Through 10 matches, senior forward Amadou Kone was leading the team with 8 points on 3 goals and 2 assists, while Reck shared the goal-scoring lead. WOMEN'S SOCCER: A 1-0 loss at No. 13 Washington on Oct. 11 ended Penn State's six-match unbeaten streak and left the Nit- tany Lions 6-3-4 overall and 4-2-2 in the Big Ten. Washington's Alex Buck scored in the 56th minute, and an apparent Penn State equalizer by junior forward Aubrey Kulpa was disallowed for off- side. Redshirt senior goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress made 5 saves. Three days earlier, Gress recorded her fourth shutout of the season in a 1-0 win at Oregon. The deciding own goal came after a shot by freshman midfielder Paige Pasinski struck the post and ricocheted off the goalkeeper. Kulpa was Penn State's scoring leader with 6 goals and 3 assists for 15 points. FIELD HOCKEY: Penn State extended its winning streak to five with a 3-0 victory at Kent State on Oct. 11, improving to 8-4 over- all while remaining 2-1 in the Big Ten. Freshman forward Chloe D'Hage contributed a goal and an assist, while junior forward Ella Gaitan and sophomore midfielder Olivia Marthins also scored. Ju- nior goalkeeper Aby Deverka recorded her sixth shutout without facing a shot on goal. Gaitan had supplied the overtime winner in a 1-0 victory at Michigan State on Oct. 9. Those wins followed a 3-2 overtime defeat of No. 19 Lafayette on Oct. 4, coach Hannah Prince's first ranked victory at Penn State. Through 12 games, Gaitan was leading the Nittany Lions with 9 goals and 20 points, while graduate midfielder Sienna Dunn was pacing the team with 11 assists. WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY: Junior forward Nicole Hall scored twice, and sophomore goaltender Maddy Campbell stopped all 30 shots in No. 4 Penn State's 4-0 victory at Syracuse on Oct. 10, salvag- ing a split and bringing the Nittany Lions to 3-3 overall and 3-1 in the Atlantic Hockey America conference. Freshman forward Sofia Ismael and sophomore forward Mikah Keller added goals, while Campbell earned her first shutout of the season. Penn State had erased two separate 2-goal deficits in the series opener before losing in overtime, 5-4. Ismael led the team through six games with 5 goals and 9 points, including a hat trick in a 4-1 victory over Robert Morris on Oct. 3 that completed a conference-opening sweep. The Nittany Lions began the season with consecutive 2-1 losses to No. 2 Ohio State on Sept. 24-25, the first in overtime. CROSS COUNTRY: Penn State's 29th-ranked women placed 14th among 33 teams at the Nuttycombe Invitational on Oct. 9 in Madison, Wis., finishing ahead of No. 23 Washington and No. 24 Providence. Freshman Vivian Kipruto led the Nittany Lions in 39th place, covering 6 kilometers in 20:11.0. Graduate Katie Dal- las finished 77th and senior Claire Zubey 79th to help Penn State total 424 points. The men's latest race produced a runner-up finish at the Paul Short Run on Oct. 2 in Bethlehem, Pa. Senior Nick Sloff won the 8K Gold Race in 23:59.8, and senior Brian DiCola finished 20th in 24:31.3. Penn State's 129 points secured its best team finish at the meet since winning it in 2001. — Matt Herb O L Y M P I C S P O R T S N O T E B O O K Through Penn State's first 16 matches, senior Kennedy Martin was second in the Big Ten with an average of 4.34 kills per set. PHOTO BY CHRIS EUTSLER/PENN STATE ATHLETICS