“Valley's Blair Brown Helps Penn State To Fourth National Title; Named Volleyball Honda Sports Award Finalist” plus 2 more |
- Valley's Blair Brown Helps Penn State To Fourth National Title; Named Volleyball Honda Sports Award Finalist
- Club Sports: Men’s volleyball gains national ranking
- Sports › Volleyball ace Kurihara out for 3 months after knee surgery
| Posted: 07 Mar 2011 05:32 AM PST Saturday night Purcellville resident Blair Brown managed to surpass even her most spectacular previous athletic accomplishments, helping her Penn State Nittany Lions teammates win an unprecedented four straight National Women's Volleyball Championship. The championship round is a best of five contest, but the Lions won three straight over California to gain the championship in Kansas City, MO. Playing for a team that is one of the most dominant women's volleyball forces ever, Brown herself is proving herself a dominant player nationwide. Brown has been named one of four finalists for the 2010-1011 Honda Sports Award, which determines the top woman collegiate athlete in volleyball. Her competitors include Texas' Juliann Faucette; USC's Alex Jupiter; and Cal's Carli Lloyd, all three of whom she knows well and against whom she has played often. The winner will be a candidate for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year award. A member of the 2010 National Championship All-Tournament Team, Brown is the 10th Nittany Lion to be named a finalist for the Honda Award for volleyball. The 6'5" tall Brown, who was a standout performer on the Loudoun Valley High School girls' volleyball team, helped the school win the Group AA State Volleyball Championship in 2004. In 2004 and 2005, she was named the Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year. She graduated from Valley in 2006. After being red-shirted her first year at Penn State because of an ankle injury, she returned to the court in 2007 and was named to the Big Ten on the all-freshmen team. Over the past three years, Brown increased her importance to the Penn State team. Her stats and honors are impressive. Earlier this season, she became the sixth straight Nittany Lion to be named the Big Ten Player of the Year. She is a three-time AVCA All American. A three-time All-Big Ten selection, she earned Second Team laurels in 2008 and First Team honors in 2009 and 2010. Brown has started all 37 matches this season and leads the Nittany Lions with 521 kills, averaging 4.24 kills per set on .320 hitting. She is second on the team with 281 digs and 113 total blocks. Her 4.24 kills per set ranks second in the Big Ten and 21st nationally, while her .323 attack percentage ranks ninth in the league. Her 4.72 points per set ranks 18th in the country. Brown earned conference player of the week laurels three times. She surpassed the 1,000 career kills milestone this season and closed out her career with 1,295 kills. Brown is the 22-year-old daughter of Sgt. Jeff Brown, supervisor of the Robbery/Homicide unit of Criminal Investigations in the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, and Jaima Brown. Her volleyball coach at Valley remembered his former player with affection. "She was a wonderful young lady, who never lost sight of her family and whom she came from," Laird Johnson said, calling her "gracious" in her approach to teammates and opponents alike. A popular member of the Valley volleyball team, nevertheless she was also "extremely competitive," he recalled. But it was a competitiveness that never got out of hand. "She kept everything in perspective," Johnson said-no easy feat considering her success. Much of the credit for Brown being so balanced Johnson attributed to her parents, who "have done everything physically and financially" to support her career as a player. "Early on they realized she was a very special player and athlete, and they supported her 100 percent. They traveled with her everywhere, gave all the support she needed," he said. So did her brother Tyler, a county deputy who played golf at Valley. And her family was in Kansas City, Jeff, Jaima and Tyler, to see the culmination of Brown's college career. "It's been a fun, fun ride," her father said Monday, hardly believing that Saturday night's championship win was not the only glittering honor facing his daughter. "It's a tremendous award (the Honda Sports Award) to be considered for," he said. Fierce competitors all year, the four finalists for the Honda Sports Award nevertheless are friends and hold each other in the highest regard, Jeff Brown said. One of the highlights the Brown family will take away from the championship occurred on the academic front. Having been injured her first year and red-shirted, Blair Brown is a fifth year senior. Her graduation was set to occur Dec. 18, the night of the finals. Penn State President Graham Spanier is "quite a volleyball fan," Jeff Brown said. When Spanier called Coach Russ Rose to say he would not be able to make the Nittany Lions' final games because of graduation ceremonies, he learned that Brown would not be able to make his graduation event either, as she had her other "graduation" to attend to. Providing a personal note that touched Brown, her family and her teammates, Spanier came to the team's final practice before boarding the plane to Kansas City wearing his full academic regalia and handing Brown a cap and gown for her graduation, which he performed on the spot at the end of the practice. "She put the cap and gown over her uniform. You could see her knee pads under the gown," her father said. "We were all totally shocked; she cried, and so did her teammates," he recalled. "I'm very proud of her, she's a great kid," he said. Right now Brown is being flooded with offers to play professionally, either in the U.S. or abroad, including Brazil and Puerto Rico. But, she's taking a break from it all, although she will make up her mind as to future career choices in a couple of months. "She's off on vacation, visiting her boyfriend in Switzerland," he said. Reader Comments The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of Leesburg Today. 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| Club Sports: Men’s volleyball gains national ranking Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:23 PM PST The men's volleyball team climbed to its highest national ranking in several years with a No. 7 rank in this week's poll. The Irish recently defeated the past two national champions, including last year's champion and current No. 1, Ohio State. Led by senior Mark Iandolo, the club is preparing for a run at the national title next month. Cycling Ohio State hosted the MWCCA road races Saturday on a rolling 15-mile course. Sophomore Brian Hurley competed first for Notre Dame. In his debut weekend, Hurley rode well and finished mid-pack. Freshman Josh Corcoran, graduate student Andrew O'Donnell, and sophomore Michael Tonzi represented ND in the Men's 'C' field. Tonzi crossed the line first in his group and fifteenth overall. O'Donnell did not finish far behind while Corcoran also finished in the top half of the field of 60. Graduate student Douglas Ansel and sophomore Joe Magro rode for the Irish in the Men's 'A' category. Starting towards the rear, Magro passed much of the field on the ascent and crested the hill in the front group. As the temperature dropped into the thirties and driving rain turned to sleet and hail, riders strung out all over the course. Magro settled into the second group of eight and scored more nationals qualification points with a finish of seventeeth overall. After two weekends he now leads the D-II conference standings by one point over Maxwell Anderson of Wisconsin Platteville. Equestrian The Notre Dame/Saint Mary's equestrian team traveled to Chicago this past weekend to compete in its first show of the semester against UW-Madison, UW-Lacrosse, UW-Milwaukee, Northwestern, Augustana and Iowa State. The team took third place on Saturday with 28 points while Northwestern took second with 33 points and Wisconsin- Lacrosse took the top spot with 38 points. On Sunday, however, Notre Dame/ Saint Mary's was the high-point team with 38 points and Wisconsin- Madison came in second with 32 points. Individually, the team excelled on both Saturday and Sunday. The show started with Open Fences. Sophomore Mia Genereux had an excellent performance, coming in second place. Freshman and first-time competitor Stephanie Nearhos took a solid second in Intermediate Fences. Despite the large number of competitors in Novice Fences, freshman Sarah Dalton trotted away in fourth place. The Irish and Belles held their own in each of the flat classes. Mia Genereux swept the Open class with a first-place finish, also making her high point rider for the day. Junior Victoria Scheid took first place in Intermediate Flat. Whitney Preisser and Amanda Leon delivered a one-two punch by taking first and second respectively, in Novice flat. Senior Nicole Oberschmied got fourth place while also qualifying for regionals. Senior Laura Powell placed third in Advanced Walk-Trot-Canter. To finish up the day, senior Megan Daugherty received a strong second in her Walk-Trot class. An even better day was to follow on Sunday, as Preisser and Walsh qualified for regionals — with Walsh qualifying in two events — and Nearhos finished first in two different classes of competition. Women's Ice Hockey This weekend the Notre Dame women's ice hockey team closed its season with a pair of games at the University of Illinois. In the first game, the Irish played well, but fell to the Ilini by a score of 3-0. In the second game, the Irish fought back from Friday's defeat and tied Illinois 1-1. The first period ended with no score as the Irish played strong defense, led by senior Amber Rosenberg. In the second period, the Illini scored on a power play, putting them up by one goal. However, in the third period, the Irish came back with one minute and 41 seconds left on the clock. Junior Lauren Miller scored the goal that tied the game for good. Ultimate The Notre Dame women's ultimate team ventured to St. Louis, Mo., for the Midwest Throwdown, a highly competitive tournament consisting of 32 women's teams. The women's A team first saw action against Colorado College. The team fought hard but eventually fell, 9-2. In the second round of pool play against Washington, the A team traded points throughout the game, battling cold temperatures and heavy winds. The weather proved difficult to overcome, however, as the Irish lost, 9-6. In their final game of the day, Notre Dame faced rival Ohio State. Both teams attempted to capitalize on strong zone offense, with sophomore Allie Hawkins finding gaps to catch the disk. Notre Dame fell to Ohio State 7-4, but endured through the entire game, trekking through heavy mud in adverse conditions. Notre Dame entered bracket play on Sunday against Iowa State. The women came out strong, with long downfield throws from seniors Molly Thompson and Kim Ford and solid long cuts from sophomore Kelly Taylor in an 11-8 loss. The A team finally claimed victory against the B team of Carleton College, winning 10-6. They advanced in the ninth place bracket to play Minnesota. The women rallied back with three points in a row to tie the game at seven, the final point determining the outcome as the Irish fell 8-7. In their final match of the weekend, the women easily defeated Truman State with a score of 9-2, ending the tournament as the 11th place finishers. Both freshman Kelsey Fink and junior Vicke Hadlock played strong defense throughout the weekend. The Notre Dame women's B team came out in their first official tournament of the season. They started off the day with pool play games against St. Olaf and Wisconsin B, falling 10-1 and 12-2, respectively. Their third game pinned the women against the B team of Carleton College, where they struggled to find cutter flow and lost 10-1. On Sunday, the women's B team opened play against Kenyon. Sophomore Kat Wilson made great plays while freshman Taylor Roberts showcased her catching and throwing abilities. The Irish couldn't quite seal the victory, losing 11-6 and moving on to play Hendrix. Although a close game, the women lost 7-4 and were highly determined to win their final match of the tournament. The B team did just that, defeating Kansas State 11-4, with strong cuts from sophomore Annie Flood and solid catches from newcomer and sophomore Betty Graham. The Notre Dame men's ultimate team competed in the Midwest Throwdown in St. Charles, Mo., this weekend. The A team finished in a somewhat disappointing tie for ninth place in the 25 team tournament, with a 4-3 record for the weekend. The tournament began with a loss to Harding University, but the team rebounded to beat Missouri the following game. A comfortable win over Missouri S&T was followed by a loss to Wisconsin-Whitewater to end Saturday play. A loss to Grinnell in the pre-quarterfinal round ended Notre Dame's championship hopes, but the Irish bounced back to beat Truman State in a come-from-behind 16-14 win. The team closed the weekend by defeating Nebraska to finish with an overall winning record. Freshman Connor Hanney played exceptionally well on Sunday, making big plays on both sides of the disc. Seniors Patrick Kozak, Jon Holland and Justin Browne gave Notre Dane experience on the handler line, limiting turns while finding cutters downfield. On the defensive-Line, juniors Adam Barsella and Thom Kenealy and senior John Miller continuously shut down opposing cutters. Sophomores Colin Mackett, Dan Bolivar and Eric Bens all added contributions with accurate throws, timely cutting and shut down defense. The team will be back in action next weekend in Tennessee, and the following weekend at the College Southerns in Statesboro, Ga. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Sports › Volleyball ace Kurihara out for 3 months after knee surgery Posted: 01 Mar 2011 11:18 AM PST TOKYO — Japan national team wing spiker Megumi Kurihara has undergone surgery for cartilage damage in her troubled left knee and will be out of action for around three months, her Pioneer Red Wings team said Tuesday. Kurihara, who last fall helped Japan win the bronze medal in Tokyo for its first women's world championship medal in 32 years, had been complaining of discomfort in the knee since early January, according to team officials. The popular 26-year-old underwent a meniscus operation on the same knee last March. © 2011 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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