Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/260491
Hall allowing the team to play full intra-squad games indoors, and with Medlar Field primed for the arrival of warmer weather, Cooper believes he's got the facilities to appeal to any recruit. For now, he's got the squad he inherited, the remnants of a team that struggled to a 14-36 mark last season, going just 4-20 in Big Ten play. Cooper, fresh off an im- pressive turnaround at Wright State – he also manages the USA Baseball U-18 National Team – is hoping to make the best of the group he took over. "At Wright State, you're talking about a program that hadn't had a winning season in five years," he said. "It took time getting them to buy in, know that they can eliminate excuses and understand, 'Yeah, you can do this. You can trust the process.' We're really pleased with how hard this team has worked since we got here. You don't need talent to play hard." Not that the Lions don't have some talent. Cooper calls senior catcher Alex Farkes "the best type of leader I could have inherited – a blue-col- lar, hard-nosed guy. I really wish I had more than one year to coach him." Cooper also mentions James Coates, a sophomore outfielder who played every game during his All- Big Ten Freshman campaign, and junior infielder Taylor Skerpon as guys he's expecting big things from, but he admits that star power won't be the key to this team's success. "These guys are working hard," he said. "I've been very happy with the effort and commitment to each other that these guys have shown on a daily basis." How well he can sell top recruits on Penn State's facilities and his own impressive resume will go a long way toward determining Coop- er's long-term success. In the short term, these Lions will need to rely on hard work and hustle if they want to enjoy the warm, sunny feeling of success. ■ MEN'S VOLLEYBALL Goodell, Russell shine in sweep of Pfeiffer Juniors Nick Goodell and Aaron Rus- sell both had double-digit kill perform- ances and led 12th-ranked Penn State to a to a 25-18, 25-20, 25-19 victory against Pfeiffer on Feb. 8 at Rec Hall. With the win, the Nittany Lions improved to 8-2 and extended their winning streak to eight matches. Russell led the team with 17 kills on .560 hitting, adding one ace and seven digs. Goodell followed with 15 kills, and a squad-best three aces, adding six digs and one block to earn the Mike Ander- son Penn State Player of the Match award. Redshirt sophomore Matt Seifert tallied six kills and one dig, while redshirt sophomore Matt Call- away totaled four kills on six errorless swings, while also leading the team with two blocks. Redshirt sophomore Taylor Hammond distributed 40 assists, pacing the Nit- tany Lions to a .363 hitting clip. WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS Lions fall to Nebraska despite season-highs The 23rd-ranked Nittany Lions posted season-high scores on the balance beam, uneven bars and vault, but No. 8 Nebraska grabbed the victory Feb. 9 at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions tied their season-best team score, but the Corn- huskers came away with the 197.225- 196.150 win. The Nittany Lions put together a solid showing that included three gymnasts with all-around scores of 39.000 or better: Randi Lau at 39.100, Kassidy Stauder at 39.350 and Krystal Welsh at 39.175 – and two gymnasts tied for indi- vidual event titles on three different ap- paratus. Penn State's highest-scoring event of the night was the vault, where it posted a season-best score of 49.150. Freshman Emma Sibson led the way for the Lions with a career-best score to tie for the event title at 9.950 with the Corn- huskers' Jessie DeZiel. Sibson's score is also tied for the eighth-best score in school history. MEN'S GYMNASTICS Howard leads PSU to win over Temple Eighth-ranked Penn State swept No. 15 Temple, 431.550-401.60, on Feb. 8 at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions bested the Owls in all six events to claim their fourth consecutive team title. Sophomore Trevor Howard claimed individual event titles on the rings (15.650), high bar (14.55) and parallel bars, where he swung to a season-high score of 15.150. Howard finished tied for third in the floor exercise (13.650) and placed second on the vault (14.800) to round out his performance. Sophomore Alexis Torres finished first in the floor exercise, earning a career- high score of 15.300. Freshman Jeremy Munn earned a second-place finish in floor exercise with a score of 14.500, fol- lowed by Howard's third-place 13.650 tally. ■ N O T E B O O K