Westmoreland campus clippings: Byers off to good start for Penn State tennis

He went from what could have been in high school to what will be in college.

Loren Byers is a sophomore at Penn State, a school that recruited him because he was one of the nation’s top tennis players at the prep level.

But Byers, who was ranked No. 46 nationally and No. 2 in Pennsylvania, had all but three matches of his single high school season in 2020 wiped out by the covid pandemic.

A 21st Century Cyber Charter School student, he attended Greensburg Salem for one year. Instead of taking the WPIAL by storm, he had to wait to return to the court in college.

He is starting for the Nittany Lions after redshirting last season.

He went 3-0 in singles and 1-1 in doubles at the fall season-opening Penn Invitational.

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Football

Ohio Northern: Senior kicker Dom DiFalco (Franklin Regional) was named the Ohio Northern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week. DiFalco was 4 for 4 on extra points and made field goals of 22 and 40 yards. Three of his six kickoffs went for touchbacks.

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Men’s soccer

Westminster: Senior Tyler Caterino (Monessen) has five goals for 10 points, second on the team this season. Teammate Jake Shulock (Franklin Regional) has an assist and has played in 10 games.

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Women’s soccer

Duquesne: Junior Hannah Nguyen (Penn-Trafford) scored on a breakaway for her second goal of the season — second in three games — as the Dukes defeated Richmond, 3-1. Nguyen added an assist, giving her four on the season.

IUP: Sophomore Samantha Nemeth (Greensburg Central Catholic) started and had three shots, one on goal, as the Crimson Hawks won 1-0 at Seton Hill. It was a return to Greensburg for Nemeth and her sister, Jessica, and freshman Sam Felder, also GCC alums on the IUP team.

Sam Nemeth has one assist this season.

Ohio: Senior goalkeeper Sam Wexell (Norwin) made six saves for seventh win and sixth shutout as the Bobcats blanked Toledo, 1-0. She was named the Mid-American Conference Player of the Week.

Pitt-Greensburg: Senior Tiffany Michalek scored two goals in, and Becca Kubler and Alexz Rosser added one each to power the Bobcats to a 4-0 victory over Alfred State. UPG, which allowed just two shots, moved to 9-1 overall and 2-1 in the AMCC.

Senior goalkeeper Lauren Yoder was named the AMCC Defensive Athlete of the Week. She gave up just two goals over 135 minutes of soccer in wins over Alfred State and Franciscan.

Saint Vincent: Sophomore Tanisha Grewal scored two goals, senior Hannah Irvine added one and junior Jessica Persin had two assists to pace the Bearcats (4-4) past Thiel, 3-0.

Westminster: Freshman Brooke Horvath (Franklin Regional) leads the Titans in points with 19 (7 goals, 5 assists). She had a goal and an assist in a 2-0 victory over Washington & Jefferson. Horvath was named the PAC Rookie of the Week.

Her point total ranks second in the conference.

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Men’s golf

West Virginia: Fifth-year senior Mark Goetz (Greensburg/The Kiski School) shot a 5-under-par 139 through 36 holes of the Mountaineer Invitational to move into second place with 18 holes to play at Pete Dye Golf Club in Bridgeport, W.Va.

Goetz, the U.S. Amateur stroke-play medalist in August at Oakmont, followed a 69 with a 70.

Westminster: Junior Sam Napper (Mt. Pleasant) finished tied for sixth with a 76 as Westminster won its 12-team fall invitational at Avalon Field and Country Club.

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Women’s volleyball

Westminster: Senior Samantha Kelly (Penn-Trafford) delivered 29 assists and 13 digs to lead the Titans to a 3-0 sweep of Saint Vincent. Junior Carly Augustine (Latrobe) and sophomore Luciana Polk (16 digs) led Saint Vincent with eight kills apiece, and junior Madie Marsico had 18 digs.

Augustine addd 14 assists.

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Men’s volleyball

Saint Vincent: Kate McCauley (Norwin) was hired as the coach of the fledgling Bearcats, who began official play in 2019. A Saint Vincent alum, McCauley is a third-year assistant with the women’s volleyball team and works as positions manager of operations for the football team.

McCauley was an assistant athletic director for two years at SVC from 2018-20 and helped with day-to-day operations in Bearcats sports. She also was the assistant tournament director of the ‘19 NCAA Division III National Volleyball Championship, hosted by SVC.

She formerly served as the boys volleyball coach at Gateway (2016-18) and also coached the Greensburg Central Catholic girls (2015-18). While at GCC, she led the Centurions to WPIAL and PIAA championships in ‘16.

As a player, McCauley played four years as a setter for the Bearcats.

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Women’s tennis

Pitt-Greensburg: UPG scored an 8-1 victory over Mt. Aloysius to secure at least a share of the AMCC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for the second year in a row.

Sophomore Cathryn Rossi and Isabella Lane won at No. 1 doubles and also took singles wins for the Bobcats (7-2, 5-0).

Rossi was named the AMCC Athlete of the Week.

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Men’s cross country

Pitt-Greensburg: The Bobcats won a four-team race at Mt. Aloysius as junior Calvin Dziewulski finished third overall in a time of 19 minutes, 9 seconds. Teammate Dylan Ackerman, a freshman, was fourth in 19:28.

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Women’s cross country

Pitt-Greensburg: Freshman Sidney McCully finished first to top a 23-runner field at Mt. Aloysius, finishing in a personal-best time of 22:55.0.