Blue White Illustrated

V A R S I T Y V I E W S Senior setter Edgardo Goas has the Nittany Lions poised for another title run Helping Hands BY ERIN WHITESIDE Blue White Contributor J ust days after dropping an early- season match to Lewis, the Penn State men's volleyball team jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Stanford after the first set. The Nittany Lions were feeling good, but the Cardinal is a seasoned team, and it responded with a 25-16 drub- bing in the second set. The Lions' pre- vious loss, combined with that lopsided second set, could have snowballed into something disas- trous. But setter Edgardo Goas helped steady his team. "Honestly, we just forgot about it," he said of his then-No. 8 Nittany Lions. "We knew that it doesn't matter if we lose 25- 23 or 25-5. We made some adjustments but just forgot about it." The Nittany Lions won't forget the GOAS outcome of that match anytime soon, as they won the final two sets to up- set the No. 4 Cardinal, 3-1, in Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 27. It's just one of many big wins Goas has witnessed during his time in a Penn State uniform. The fifth-year sen- ior has been a stalwart in the Penn State offense, starting every match in which he has suited up. Goas' pinpoint sets have led to a per- sonal No. 2 ranking in the country in sets per game, and his accuracy has helped Penn State climb to No. 7 in the nation in attack percentage and No. 5 in the national rankings. Despite those impressive statistics, Goas attributes the Nittany Lions' success to an often-overlooked part of the game: passing. "As a team, we're passing really well, so I have a lot of options," he said. "Once we have a great pass, it makes the setting so much easier in getting hitters one-on-ones." MEN'S VOLLEYBALL At 6-foot-5, Goas has the frame to succeed in one-on-one attack matchups himself, but he said that de- spite the best efforts of his high school coaches, he always found himself more comfortable as a setter. "All my coaches make fun of me that N O T E B O O K Penn State tops 4th-ranked Cardinal Penn State opened up this year's campaign with a grueling schedule that included five consecutive matches against top-25 teams – all on the road. The Nittany Lions went 4-1 in that first stretch, in- cluding an upset of No. 4 Stanford Jan. 27. Penn State returned home to sweep Mt. Olive and Cal-Baptist Feb. 3 and 4. Sophomore Peter Russell led the way in those two matches, starting both at outside hitter. Against Mt. Olive, Russell led the team with nine kills on 14 errorless swings for a .643 hitting percentage. The follow- ing night, he tied for first on the team with eight kills. MEN'S GYMNASTICS Racque lifts Lions ercise (15.300), second in vault (15.000) and third in the still rings (15.100) and claimed the all-around title with a career-high score of 85.500. Scott Rosenthal eclipsed the elu- sive 16.000 mark in the still rings for the second time in three meets with a score of 16.100. The junior now owns the program's top two scores in the event, after shattering the record with a 16.300 several weeks ago. Other top finishers were Tony Beck (pommel horse, 15.300), Tristan Duverglas (vault, 15.100) and Matthew Felleman (parallel bars, 14.600). WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS Musser shines at West Point Open Behind first-, second- and third- place finishes in three individual events by junior Parker Racque, No. 4 Penn State won its 14th consecu- tive West Point Open team title Jan. 27. Racque placed first in the floor ex- W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M as Lions win two After a rocky start on the parallel bars, Penn State rallied to top No. 24 Iowa in Iowa City Feb. 4. The win was the second consecutive victory for the Nittany Lions, who topped Minnesota Jan. 28. Junior Sharaya Musser helped her team to the wins with back-to- back all-around titles. Against Iowa, Musser was especially strong, posting a season-high score of 39.600 to take her fifth title in five meets. M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 2 37 SWIMMING & DIVING Nittany Lions sweep Lehigh, Saint Francis I'm a terrible hitter," he said with a laugh. "So thank God I'm a good setter." His peers agree. The Puerto Rico na- tive is a two-time second-team All- American and a three-time All- Conference selection. The awards all came after a redshirt season in which he watched as then- senior setter Luke Murray helped guide the Nittany Lions to the nation- al title. A year later, Penn State fell in the na- tional championship match to Southern Cal. Leaving Penn State with a title is one of Goas' goals, and he said the team has the proper com- ponents to make that happen. "As a team, we're trying to improve every week," he said. "If we keep im- proving, we'll be right up there once May comes around to compete for the national championship." The Lions won all 16 events Feb. 4 against Lehigh and Saint Francis en route to easy wins over their two in- state rivals. Sophomore Brynja Winnan won two events, helping the 200 medley relay team to a first- place finish on a time of 1 minute, 44.57 seconds and then winning the 200 backstroke in 2:03.13. Senior Kristen Rodman made the most of the senior day meet by also winning two events: the 100 backstroke (56.97) and the 100 freestyle (51.53). On the men's side, Penn State won all 15 events Feb. 4 against Lehigh to make its own senior day a suc- cessful one. – E.W.

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