Fall Sports Update: Women’s Volleyball Survives Scare

The women's volleyball team fell in two sets to SMU at the Spikes Under The Lights exhibition last Thursday. The team looked rusty going up against a Mustangs team that had already played one match against a high-quality opponent the weekend before.

The Nittany Lions opened the regular season with three straight wins in the Penn State Invitational, but it did not always come easily. Penn State swept UConn and Hofstra but needed five sets to dispatch High Point on Sunday morning. Whitney Lauenstein and Kennedy Martin each reached double digit kills against Hofstra. The team defense was strong for most of the weekend, holding the three opponents to just .115 hitting percentage.

Penn State will face its first test of the season against Kentucky at Wrigley Field on Sunday (7pm on FOX) as part of the Big Ten-SEC Challenge. The Nittany Lions will then face DePaul on Monday (4pm on ESPNU).

Nicole Crane recorded her first career hat trick in the women's soccer team's 6-0 win over Brown on Sunday. MacKenzie Gress and Lily Selvy combined for a five-save shutout to help Penn State pick up its second win of the season and second straight shutout. It was an easy win for the team in its final tuneup game of the non-conference slate.

Penn State will host Virginia Tech tonight (5pm on Big Ten Plus) in the last non-conference game of the regular season.

The men's soccer team fell 2-1 to Pitt on Friday to drop to 1-2 on the season. Former Penn State midfielder Caden Grabfelder opened the scoring for Pitt on a penalty shot. Amadou Kone answered for Penn State shortly before halftime to even the score, but Anders Bordoy scored the game-winning goal for Pitt in the 54th minute. Penn State had no shots on goal in the second half, as the Pitt defense stifled the Nittany Lions' attack for most of the night.

Penn State will host Yale on Friday (7pm on Big Ten Plus). Tuesday's scheduled game against Bucknell was cancelled.

Penn State stormed back from a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter against Virginia to force overtime, but the Cavaliers scored early in overtime to win 4-3. It was an admirable effort for Penn State in the first game of the Hannah Prince era. Olivia Marthins, Ella Gaitan, and Chloe Dhage all scored for the Nittany Lions in the opener.

The Nittany Lions responded with an easy 8-0 win over Lock Haven. Josephine Purdy was the only player to score twice in the game for Penn State as the Nittany Lions flexed their scoring depth. Lock Haven was held to just three shots on goal in the game.

Penn State will host Villanova on Friday (3pm on Big Ten Plus) and Delaware on Sunday (noon on Big Ten Plus).