By Genny Shinn

Penn State fans were stunned into silence when the No. 2 Nittany Lions fell to the No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers Friday night. The Lions nearly perfect season ended in an upset loss in which they were defeated, three games to one.

It seemed to be an upset type of night as Missouri, ranked eighth, overpowered No. 6 Hawaii in the 4 p.m. game, which was played before the Lions and Vols took the court. Interestingly enough, it seemed the teams with the loudest bands came out victorious.

That’s right, the “Battle of the Bands” was a fascinating subplot as the players fought their hearts out to advance in the tournament. As soon as the faithful fans started a “We are” chant, the Tennessee band quickly cut them off and belted out nine songs before the Blue Band finally responded. Then, as the warm-up clock wound down, both bands featured their loudest pieces as if they were in an “I can play louder than you can” deadlock. Unfortunately, Tennessee did seem to have the upper hand, both on the court, and behind the instruments.

With Tennessee’s band providing some much needed student support to the Vols, it would have helped the Lions if there was some more student support on their side as well. Despite Rec Hall being more packed than last weekend, the fan base seemed to be comprised of more alumni than students. Perhaps this was partly due to the increased price for entry into the game. Who knows?

This isn’t to say that PSU fans decided to stay home Friday night. In fact, some male students painted their entire upper bodies as women volleyball uniforms featuring the numbers of Nicole Fawcett, Melissa Walbridge, Sam Tortorello, Kaleena Walters, and Kate Price.

Two students got clobbered with a ball that had been blocked into them. Instead of being upset, they just got up and gave each other high-fives. It was as if they had just experienced their most exciting event of the week.

One fan even hailed and bowed in the direction of Nicole Fawcett after she had completed an excellent kill from the back of the court.

Nonetheless, these fans couldn’t provide a Penn State victory. Heartbreaker is the best term to describe this particular loss. It was the second time in two years they lost in the Regional Semifinals. Last year, they fell to UCLA in Seattle. This year, they had home-court advantage. And it was the last time three seniors would ever play in front of their faithful fans at Rec Hall.

For Sam Tortorello, Kaleena Walters, and Kim Holm, the loss was especially bittersweet. However, they can at least take the good memories with them. Tortorello and Walters were both named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s All-Midwest Region Squad earlier in the week. Walters was also named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, as Tortorello picked up the Big Ten Player of the Year honor.

Coach Russ Rose will surely begin to focus on next season and how to get over the Regional Semifinal hump. With great returning starters like Nicole Fawcett, Melissa Walbridge, Kate Price and Kris Brown, the Lions should have another great season coming their way.

From the standpoint of one devoted fan, there is always next year.

Posted by at 05:36 PM on December 11, 2005
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By Genny Shinn

The term rambunctious was epitomized as two college students wearing “Russ’ Rows” T-shirts were by far the Penn State’s loudest fans Friday night. They were ready for the beginning of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament.

And what a beginning! Coach Russ Rose had his squad ready as they went on to beat Binghamton in three games.

It was difficult for Binghamton to keep up with the highly physical Lions. This was Binghamton’s first NCAA Tournament after moving up from Division III in 2001. However, it was probably even tougher to stay in the game mentally with the criticism they were receiving from some Rec Hall fans.

Several times Binghamton was referred to as a “high school team” by two of Penn State’s biggest fans (mentioned above). These two are always at some sporting event, whether it is football, baseball, basketball, or volleyball. I’ve seen them.

When Binghamton moved sides on the court, the guys changed their seats as well to ensure Binghamton would not miss their presence. Binghamton player, Katie Brody took the brunt of their criticism as the two guys often started, “We want Brady” chants or, “It’s the Brady bunch.” Now, whether or not they really thought her name was Brady, I am not sure. I will admit, though, it would have been easy to mistake the “o” on the scoreboard for an “a.”

Despite these two fans making their presence noticed, Rec Hall was pretty empty. Yet the fans who did show up proved they were dedicated to the Lions. One father brought his twin sons to the game, who couldn’t have been older than a year and half. He would spend the intermissions between matches dancing with his two boys and doing little jigs.

One fan, Liza Vega, came to Rec Hall after watching her beloved Penn State women’s soccer team lose to Portland in the semifinals of the College Cup, which aired live on ESPN2. She was cheering the Lions on in their quest to beat Binghamton, but there were several instances where something like, “Man, I can’t believe they lost,” popped out of her mouth, referring to the soccer team. She could have stayed home, down and depressed, but she made the trip from across campus from her Nittany Apartment home in the freezing cold to watch the first round of the NCAA tournament.

That is commitment and dedication. And without this dedication, nobody would have came out to see the Lions hold a team to only eight points in a game, as they did to Binghamton in Game 2. And nobody would have been able to see the miraculous moment when senior Sam Tortorello went up for a block in the second match, and the ball idled on top of the net for what felt like ten seconds. This eventually resulted in Penn State gaining possession of the ball and a Nicole Fawcett kill from the very back of the court.

The Lions went on to beat Long Island on Saturday in three games as well. Coach Rose looks to prepare his team this week to take on Tennessee in the Regional Semifinals again at Rec Hall. Rose knows the importance of a good fan following. Therefore, nobody would want to miss this women’s team as they are on the hunt for an exclusive NCAA Championship.

As Tortorello said in the beginning of the season for the volleyball yearbook, “I’m proud of our accomplishments the past three years and to say we’ve won back-to-back Big Ten titles, but for the 2005 season, we have our eyes set on one goal…an NCAA National Championship.”

Posted by at 12:47 AM on December 05, 2005
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The No. 3 Penn State women’s volleyball team defeated Big Ten rival No. 11 Wisconsin in four games (27-30, 30-16, 30-22, 30-21) last night at Rec Hall. The match will be broadcast on tape-delay today at 4 p.m. on CSTV.

Freshman Nicole Fawcett, pictured to the right with sophomore Kate Price (16) and head coach Russ Rose, recorded her second career double-double and junior Cassy Salyer equaled her season high in kills. The Nittany Lions maintain control of the Big Ten race with an 11-0 conference mark and a 20-2 overall record as the Badgers fall to 16-4 for the year and 8-3 in league action.

Penn State’s 20th win of the season marks the 29th consecutive season in the program’s 30-year history that the team has reached the 20-win mark. The only year in which Penn State failed to reach the 20-win plateau was in 1976, the first year of the program, when it played 20 matches total and finished with a 6-11-3 record.

Fawcett led all players with 20 kills and added 16 digs for her second double-double of the year. Her first came in the opening match of the season versus Stanford when she collected 17 kills and 12 digs. Salyer posted a season-high-tying 17 kills on .467 hitting as Price recorded 12 kills, freshman Christa Harmotto added 10 and sophomore Melissa Walbridge chipped in nine.

Senior setter Sam Tortorello dished out 61 assists and added five kills, 11 digs and three blocks as senior libero Kaleena Walters fell just two digs shy of her four-game record, recording 26 in the match.

The Lions won the blocking battle, 15.5 to 13.0. Walbridge, pictured to the right with Salyer, posted eight blocks, Harmotto recorded six, Salyer posted five and Price fell one shy of her career high with four.

Russ Rose and the Lions continue homecoming weekend tonight as they host Northwestern at 8 p.m. at Rec Hall.

Photos: Carl Kosola

Posted by at 11:57 AM on October 29, 2005
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