Penn State Sports Magazine
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4 8 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Before joining Rose's staff, she spent nine seasons as a head coach, the first eight at the University of Illinois Chi- cago and the last at Penn. She went 113-135 at UIC with an appearance in the 2012 Horizon League championship match, the team's best showing at the league tournament in six seasons. In her lone season at Penn, the Quakers went 12-11, their best finish in four years. The Quakers' seven Ivy League wins were the most for a first-year coach in the program's history. As with her coaching career, Schum- acher-Cawley's playing career began in Chicago and skyrocketed at PSU. At Mother McAuley High, she led the Mighty Macs to state and national vol- leyball championships. At Penn State, she was part of the breakthrough 1999 team that finished 36-1 and claimed the school's first NCAA crown. She was a two-time AVCA All-American, finish- ing her career with 1,310 kills, 772 digs and 299 blocks. What's more, Schumacher-Cawley's athletic talents weren't confined to the volleyball court. She had also been an outstanding basketball player in high school, and she joined the Lady Lion hoops team at Penn State in 2001-02. "Katie truly embodies the rich and extraordinary culture created by her own coach and mentor, Russ Rose," former Penn State volleyball teammate Nadia Erickson said. "I'm confident she will continue to build upon the strong foundation and deep-rooted legacy of the program." Schumacher-Cawley is married to Mike Cawley, a football standout at James Madison in the mid-1990s and a sixth-round pick by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1996 NFL Draft. The couple have three daughters. Rose said he expects Schumacher- Cawley's longstanding ties to Penn State to be a major asset as she takes charge of the volleyball program. "Her experience as a student-ath- lete in both volleyball and basketball at Penn State, as well as her loyal commit- ment to the program as a staff mem- ber, certainly prepared her to lead the Nittany Lions in the future," Rose said. "I'm happy that Katie, Mike and their daughters will be able to experience be- ing a part of the Penn State family in that special way." A s s h e a c c e p te d t h e p o s i t i o n , Schumacher-Cawley thanked her fam- ily for helping her achieve a long-held ambition. Their support "has allowed me to grow in this game from the first day I picked up a volleyball in Chicago until today," she said, "and it has cer- tainly positioned me to achieve this dream and take the next step in my journey." ■ MEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Penn State got off to a blazing start, with four consecutive sweeps over top-10 opponents to open the season. But during a late-January trip to Southern California, the third-ranked Nittany Lions cooled off, falling to No. 12 USC and No. 2 UCLA by identical 3-1 scores. The Lions began their campaign at Rec Hall with a pair of 3-0 victories over BYU, which was ranked sixth at the time. The following week- end, Penn State handily won two more home matches against the nation's new No. 6 team, Grand Canyon. But at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge in Los Angeles, PSU wasn't able to maintain its mo- mentum. The Nittany Lions captured the first set against USC on Jan. 21, only to see the Tro- jans come roaring back with victories in the next three sets. The same thing happened the following night against UCLA. Penn State romped to victory in the first set, 25-17, but the Bruins outlasted PSU in the second, 28-26, and went on to claim a 3-1 victory. Senior opposite hitter Cal Fisher led Penn State with 36 kills in its two matches at Pauley Pavilion, while senior outside hitter Brett Wild- man had 21. The Nittany Lions were 4-2 on the season heading into their opening match of the Battle of the Bigs on Jan. 28 against host UC Santa Barbara. WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY: Penn State experi- enced an up-and-down restart after the holiday break, splitting its two games at the Battle of the 'Burgh tournament at the Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township, Pa., and go- ing 1-1-1 in its next three games before seeing a two-game series at Lindenwood canceled due to positive COVID tests in the Lindenwood program. The Lions' two victories during that span were both by shutout. Sophomore goalkeeper Josie Bothun stopped 26 shots in a 3-0 win over Bos- ton University on Jan. 2 in the second game of the Battle of the 'Burgh event, and she had 19 saves in a 5-0 victory at RIT on Jan. 14. Heading into a two-game series against Mer- cyhurst Jan. 28-29 at Pegula Ice Arena, Penn State was 12-8-3 overall and 5-2-1-1 in the Col- lege Hockey America conference. MEN'S GYMNASTICS: Penn State enjoyed some early season success against the service academies, winning the West Point Open on Jan. 15 and outdistancing the hosts at the Navy Open on Jan. 22. At West Point, Penn State got two event wins from Matt Cormier, with the sophomore tak- ing first place in the floor exercise (14.0) and high bar (13.7), while sophomore Ethan Dick finished first in the pommel horse with a score of 13.95. As a team, the Lions totaled 394.650 points to win the event for the eighth consecutive year. Navy was second with 391.450, while Army was third with 388.650. At the Navy Open, Penn State was disap- pointed with its results in the high bar, floor exercise and pommel horse, but it posted a season-best 66.550 on the rings and a 69.850 on the vault to pull ahead of Navy in the team race. The Lions finished with 385.850 points, topping the Midshipmen (384.200), along with Springfield, William & Mary and Temple. "It wasn't pretty," coach Randy Jepson said. "But we got the 'W.'" WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS: Penn State fell to Ohio State on Jan. 22 in Columbus, but coach Sarah Brown was encouraged after her team posted its highest score in nearly two years, finishing the dual meet with 196.425 points. The Nittany Lions turned in season-high scores in all four events, and junior Lauren Bridgens finished with a season-best score of 39.375 in the all-around competition. "I'm so proud of these girls tonight," Brown said. "From start to finish, the team came to- gether and kept fighting throughout the entire night. … I finally feel like I saw the training translate to competition, and I know we can continue to go up from here." WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD: Freshman Allison Johnson finished the mile in 4 minutes, 37.44 seconds at the Penn State Na- tional Open on Jan. 22. It was the second-best time in school history and the best time in the Big Ten this season. In her collegiate debut a week earlier, the Mount Gilead, Ohio, native posted the second- best 1,000-meter time in school history, finish- ing in 2:43.12. — Matt Herb O L Y M P I C S P O R T S R O U N D U P