Penn State brings
another loaded squad
The Nittany Lions return to Oahu
looking just as dangerous as
when they left 12 years ago
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The sport itself has undergone an extreme makeover, with rally scoring used the entire match, let serves and liberos. The venue for the Hawaiian Airlines Classic is different as well; when the Nittany Lions last played here in 1993, it was at the Blaisdell Arena and not the Stan Sheriff Center, which was 14 months away from completion.
But as much as things have changed, the more they've stayed the same. This week's Classic again features a tough field, which includes the No. 4 Rainbow Wahine (0-2), fifth-ranked Nittany Lions (1-1), No. 7 Southern California (1-0) and Western Michigan (2-0).
And again, Penn State, which swept Hawaii last Saturday for third place in the AVCA/NACWAA Showcase, has an All-American setter surrounded by a lot of talent. In 1993, it was Salima Davidson; this season, it is senior Sam Tortorello.
The win by Penn State over Hawaii on national TV last Saturday was not lost on the Wahine fans.
"We were walking around (Waikiki) and people were asking, 'Didn't you just play Hawaii?' " Tortorello said. "And here we are, playing them again.
"What we're hoping is to smooth things out from when we saw them. I think there are things we did over the weekend that we can work on and get better at."
Penn State looked pretty good in dispatching Hawaii in 99 minutes at the Qwest Center in Omaha, with three attackers hitting more than .350. Senior 6-foot-3 middle Melissa Walbridge put down 14 kills (.350) while freshmen hitters Christa Harmotto (6-2, 13 kills, .478) and Nicole Fawcett (6-4, 13 kills, .357) were impressive in their debut.
Getting an up-close-and-personal look Monday was University Lab School graduate Rhonee Rojas, who played for the Penn State men's team (2001-04). The 6-1 defensive specialist was helping with the Nittany Lions' practice Monday and "their freshmen are exceptional," Rojas said. "I think they're one of the most talented teams they've had in years, one of the best I've seen.
"It was a lot of fun playing against them. I think they're even stronger than our men. I'm excited that they're here. It's about time they played the women of Hawaii."
While the PSU men's team comes annually to compete against the Warriors, this is just the second time its women's team has traveled here. The visit is in the midst of a killer schedule: The Nittany Lions were in Omaha last week, Honolulu this week and go back to play Nebraska in Lincoln next week.
"We want to get better each match and you do that playing good teams," Rose said. "We're starting two freshmen and they're experiencing a lot of things for the first time. Our players need to get used to playing next to each other. We need to reduce errors so at least the biggest enemy is not yourself.
"It's early. You have to be patient."
Penn State opens the tournament tonight against USC.
"It's not a fair tradeoff," Rose said. "They've seen two of our matches on TV. We've seen their boxscore (against Cal Poly SLO)."
A look at the teams:
Hawaii (0-2): The Rainbow Wahine won't be at full strength this week, although sophomore hitter Tara Hittle (sprained ankle) was able to practice yesterday. Shoji is not expecting to use her in the front row but Hittle likely will see some back-row time.
"It's just nice to be back home," Shoji said. "We want to take care of some ball-handling problems and some uncontested points that we gave away last week. We need to do better jobs on defense and with our blocking."
He said he won't decide on a starting lineup until after today's practice.
Hawaii has won its last 38 matches at home, the longest active streak in the country. The last loss in the Stan Sheriff Center was to USC in the NACWAA Classic on Aug. 23, 2003.
The Wahine are 40-11 in the HAL tournament, winning nine championships, finishing second five times and third three times.
Hawaii was 30-1 last year, losing to Wisconsin in the regional semifinal.
Penn State (1-1): The Nittany Lions split their matches at last week's NACWAA Showcase, falling to Stanford in five before sweeping Hawaii. Penn State leads the series with the Wahine 2-0, also defeating UH in the 1993 HAL Classic.
The Nittany Lions are led by All-American setter Sam Tortorello, a club teammate of Wahine backup setter Cayley Thurlby. Yesterday, PSU senior libero Kaleen Walters was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, based on her performance at the NACWAA (39 digs in two matches); she is 234 digs shy of becoming the school's all-time leader in digs.
PSU was 29-3 last season, falling to UCLA in the regional semifinals.
USC (1-0): The Women of Troy swept Cal Poly Saturday, getting 13 kills from sophomore hitter Diane Copenhagen and 11 from senior All-American middle Bibiana Candelas. USC is running a two-setter system much like Nebraska's, which has three attackers in the front row at all times.
Sharing the setting duties are junior Alli Dillon, a starter last season after transferring from San Jose State, and senior Nena Siljegovic, who transferred over the summer from Moorpark (Calif.) College.
The Women of Troy won consecutive NCAA titles in 2002-03. They were 23-6 last season, losing to Minnesota in the NCAA semifinal.
Western Michigan (2-0): The Broncos are coming off sweeps over Oakland and Valparaiso Saturday. Leading WMU were senior middle Shaylen Jackson (4.00 kpg, 1.83 bpg) and senior libero Katy Duffy (6.83 dpg).
Colleen Munson is in her first year with WMU. The Broncos finished 19-11 last season, second in the Mid-American Conference.
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