Sept. 10, 2007
UNIVESITY PARK, Pa. - After leading their teams to victories on the gridiron and on the court this past weekend, football's Dan Connor (Wallingford, Pa.) and volleyball's Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) have been selected as Penn State's Student-Athletes of the Week. Connor recorded a game-high 12 tackles (8 solo) in the Nittany Lions' 31-10 win over Notre Dame, while Hodge averaged 5.00 kills per game on .514 hitting in three wins for women's volleyball this weekend.
Senior All-American Connor recorded a game-high 12 tackles (8 solo) to lead the Nittany Lions against Notre Dame and was selected the Walter Camp Football Foundation's National Defensive Player of the Week and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.
Dan Connor |
The former Strath Haven High School standout tallied 2.5 tackles for loss (minus-13), including a sack, and a pass break-up, as the Penn State defense put the clamps on the Irish offense to the delight of the frenetic White House crowd of 110,078, second-largest in Beaver Stadium history.
With his 12 stops, Connor moved into fourth all-time on the Penn State career tackles list with 291, passing All-American Dennis Onkotz (1967-69) with 287. Brian Gelzheiser is third at 315. The 12 tackles were the 13th career double-digit tackle game for Connor.
Hodge was named the Most Valuable Player of the Penn State Classic after leading the Nittany Lions to three wins. Friday night against No. 24 St. John's, Hodge led all players with 18 kills on .556 hitting with a team-high two aces and nine digs.
The following day against Colgate, Hodge posted 15 kills - compared to only 17 by the Raiders as a team - while also adding in a team-high nine digs and five blocks. To close out action in the tournament, Hodge posted 12 kills on .381 hitting with 12 digs for her 13th career double-double and her third of the season. For the weekend, Hodge averaged 5.00 kills per game on .514 hitting with 3.33 digs per game and 1.22 blocks per game.
No. 12/12 football is home again this weekend vs. Buffalo for a noon ET kick-off live on the Big Ten Network. No. 3 women's volleyball is at the Yale Classic this weekend and will meet Yale, Delaware State, and No. 2 Stanford. A complete schedule for the weekend can be found on the volleyball page.
2007 Penn State Student-Athletes of the Week
August 27- Kiersten Wood
September 3- Anthony Morelli, Bridget Franek
September 10- Dan Connor, Megan Hodge