Women’s Hockey (22-4-1)
The women’s hockey team rolled its record to 22-4-1 with a 5-1 win over No. 12 Cornell on Tuesday. Five different players scored the Nittany Lions’ five goals in a well-rounded team effort. Tessa Janecke had a goal and an assist, and Katelyn Roberts had two assists in the win. Penn State now has five wins over teams ranked in the top 15 of NPI.
Penn State will face Delaware at home on Friday (6pm on Big Ten Plus) and Saturday (2pm on Big Ten Plus).
As of this morning, Penn State is No. 4 in the NPI.
In the current tournament format, the top five teams get a first-round bye. There is no Big Ten in women’s hockey, but it’s a Big Ten party in the top four, with Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Penn State occupying the top four spots. There is a decent gap between No. 4 PSU and No. 6 Quinnipiac, but the Nittany Lions will need to keep winning to be assured a bye.
The current projected bracket looks like this:
First Round
(6) Quinnipiac vs. (11) St. Anselm
(7) Princeton vs. (10) Yale
(8) Northeastern vs. (9) Minnesota-Duluth
Quarterfinals
(1) Wisconsin vs. winner of Northeastern/Minnesota-Duluth
(2) Ohio State vs. winner of Princeton/Yale
(3) Minnesota vs. winner of Quinnipiac/St. Anselm
(4) Penn State vs. (5) UConn
Men’s Volleyball (4-0)
The men’s volleyball team continued its unbeaten start in Mark Pavlik’s final season with a 3-0 win over St. Thomas Aquinas and a 3-1 win over No. 9 Lewis.
Gaige Gabriel (10 kills) was the only Nittany Lion to reach double-digit kills in the win over St. Thomas Aquinas. The Nittany Lions held the Spartans to just .182 hitting percentage. Tristan Hassell (13 kills), Sean Harvey (12), and Matthew Luoma (11) all reached double-digit kills in a four-set win over Lewis.
Penn State will travel to McKendree for matches on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (2pm).
Women’s Basketball (7-13)
The women’s basketball team is 0-9 in conference play following an 81-65 loss to Washington on Wednesday. Both basketball teams at Penn State are now a combined 0-17 against Big Ten competition this year.
Gracie Merkle nearly recorded a double-double against the Huskies, recording 19 points and 8 rebounds. Penn State’s offense struggled to keep up with Washington, shooting just 42% from the floor in the game. Washington led by just one at halftime, but the Huskies outscored Penn State 43-28 in the second half.
Penn State will face Oregon on the road on Saturday (5pm on Big Ten Plus) before returning home to face Minnesota on Wednesday (6pm on Big Ten Plus).
