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hitter Clare Powers (St. Mary's College). So there's some acclimation that has to take place, and Washington has been working with the newcomers this sum- mer to speed their transition. "It's been really great," she said. "The entire junior class has really stepped up as leaders, and the seniors as well. They've all stepped up and helped the freshmen :gure out what they need to do. Plus, we have transfers, and it's just a di;erent culture when you have transfers coming in. It's [a matter of] helping them get used to it. Everybody has done a really great job." The Nittany Lions may well face the most formidable challenge of their non- conference season when they take on 11th-ranked Stanford. But while the match is certain to generate plenty of buzz, Washington is reluctant to tout it as an indication of the team's potential for the rest of the season. A year ago, the Nit- tany Lions swept the Cardinal in Rec Hall, seemingly con:rming their status as NCAA tournament favorites. In the end, though, all that match proved was that the Lions had peaked too early. They went on to :nish fourth in the Big Ten before being ousted from the NCAA tourney in the third round. Said Washington, "By the end of the season, we weren't the same team." This season, Penn State's Big Ten slate :gures to be tougher than ever, with three opponents in the preseason top :ve (Ne- braska at No. 1, Minnesota at No. 3 and Wisconsin at No. 4), and Illinois (No. 14), Ohio State (No. 15) and Purdue (No. 20) also appearing in the rankings. But the start of a new campaign always brings new hope, and Penn State's re- markable history suggests it would be premature to classify this season – or any season – as a rebuilding year. "It's hard :guring everything out, for sure, because there's so much new blood," Washington said. "But I think we're :g- uring it out :ne. I think we're picking things up. Honestly, I was looking at us the other day [in practice] and I was pretty impressed with how good we looked." If their cohesiveness carries over from practice to game night, the Nittany Lions will be that much closer to establishing themselves as potential championship contenders. Because, as Washington notes, the challenge isn't simply to prove the preseason polls wrong. "It's also [a matter of] proving to our- selves that we can do something. We lost a lot of good players last year with Megan graduating and Aiyana graduating. It's tough losing personnel like that," she said. "So it's not just about proving other peo- ple wrong but proving to ourselves that we have the capability to do it." ■ Penn State alums earned eight medals at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, improving on the :ve medals that Nittany Lion athletes received at the 2012 Lon- don Games. With those strong performances in Rio, Penn State's total number of Olympic medalists is 36 all-time. Penn State's 12 active competitors on Team USA led the Big Ten and were tied for No. 6 among all colleges and universities, according to the United States Olympic Committee. The Nittany Lions were tied with Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon and Princeton. TRACK & FIELD Former Penn State All-American Joe Kovacs earned a silver medal in the men's shot put with a throw of 21.78 meters. Kovacs became the :rst silver medalist for Penn State since Mike Shine, who :nished second in the 400- meter hurdles at the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal. Another former Nitany Lion shot putter, Darrell Hill, competed in the prelims, :nishing 23rd with a best mark of 19.56 meters. FENCING Former Nittany Lion All-American Miles Chamley-Watson helped the U.S. men's foil team defeat Italy to win the bronze medal. Another fencing All- American, Monica Aksamit, helped the U.S. women's saber squad also beat Italy to win the bronze. WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL Penn State All-America alums Alisha Glass and Christa (Harmotto) Dietzen helped Team USA claim the bronze medal with a 3-1 victory against the Netherlands. The United States had gone 6-0 through pool play before a 3-2 loss to Serbia in the semi:nals knocked it out of contention for the gold. "In a way, sel:shly, I wanted a gold medal to almost prove the way this culture is, or the way the culture has grown and the foundation that we've built, almost to prove it right — that the way we did it was right," Dietzen said. "A medal is not going to prove that. A medal doesn't de:ne this team. It will never de:ne this team." MEN'S VOLLEYBALL Nittany Lion alums Matt Anderson, Max Holt and Aaron Russell helped the U.S. men stun defending Olympic champion Russia in :ve sets to claim the bronze medal. A

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