Penn State (4-0) swept Colorado (2-2) Friday night (25-19, 25-21, 25-18), but after the match, Coach Rose was anything but happy.
I thought it was a hard, but not necessarily well-played match. On their [Colorado’s] behalf, I think they were very tired from yesterday’s travel day that was very challenging. [Colorado’s plane was cancelled, either in Colorado or in Detroit, necessitating either a very, very long drive, or merely a very long drive, to State College].
I don’t really have an explanation for our performance, other than maybe that’s how well we play.”
Haleigh WashingtonSimone Lee
Coach Rose singled out 6-3 So. MB Haleigh Washington (8 kills, .500 attack %) and 6-1 So. OH Simone Lee (3 kills, .500 attack %) for having hit well, praised 6-2 So. MB Heidi Thelen (a team-high 7 blocks) for having blocked well, complimented Colorado, but faulted the Nittany Lions performance:
Colorado has a nice team. They’ve got a couple of really strong offensive players. I don’t think they did anything we didn’t anticipate. I just think that in a lot of instances, we weren’t very prepared to play today. I think a couple of the younger kids didn’t play particularly well, and a couple of the older kids didn’t play very well either. You’ve got to feel good about not playing your best and winning, and hope that you can improve. You have to improve really quickly. Tomorrow you’re playing a really great team.
Heidi Thelen
In the second set, Coach Rose went to the 6-2 for the first time this season, bringing in 5-8 Fr. setter Wilma Rivera and Simone Lee for 6-0 Fr. setter Bryanna Weiskircher and 6-4 RS Sr. Opp/RS Aiyana Whitney (4 blocks).
It gives me an opportunity to get Simone on the floor, and I think she’s one of our best net players. She’s a very aggressive attacker, she’s a really strong blocker. She and Haleigh are the only two people who demonstrate a lot of positive energy out there.
For her part, Lee said she focuses bringing positive energy into match whether the team is winning or losing.
It’s a good thing to bring energy. If you’re losing, the energy helps you push forward and win and gain momentum, if you’re winning, positive energy to keep moving forward. I’m an energetic person — you can ask my teammates — when it comes to practice and when it comes to games. Any way I can help the team, coming in, playing my hardest, going all out, that’s what I try to do all the time.
