Glass, Penn St. reach NCAA volleyball 'Sweet 16'.

Alisha Glass of Leland and her Penn State teammates have reached the “Sweet 16” in the Division I NCAA women’s volleyball tournament.

The No. 1-ranked Nittany Lions, who are 30-2 and fresh off a Big Ten championship, defeated Siena and Albany last weekend in NCAA tournament first and second round action. The wins put Penn State in the NCAA Regional semifinals, where they will host Michigan (24-10) Friday night. The winner will play the survivor of the match between Brigham Young and Middle Tennessee State for the Regional title Saturday night.

Glass, a sophomore setter, directs the Nittany Lions’ offense with a team-leading 12.98 assists per game. Penn State leads Michigan, 33-3, in a series that began in 1981.

The winners of the NCAA’s four Regional finals will advance to the national semifinals on Dec. 13 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento. The NCAA championship match will be held on Dec. 15.

Four of the top 11 seeds in this year’s tournament have already been eliminated in the first two rounds. Other highly rated teams still alive in the tourney include Nebraska (29-1), Stanford (29-2), Florida (29-2), and USC (27-4)

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Two of the most talented basketball athletes to play the sport at Central Michigan University were in the Leland gym Monday — and rooting for opposite teams.

Sander Scott, who led Northport to the state Class D title in 1988 before starring for the Chippewas, was running a video recorder for the Comets in the top row of seats. He was rooting for Leland and his son, sophomore Sam Scott, who was brought up to the varsity.

On the first row of bleachers was former CMU standout Jeff Tropf, who stepped into the role of Northport coach this year at least partly to help guide his son, also a sophomore called up to the varsity. He is Jason Tropf.

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Speaking of CMU, Dana Westover continues to make contributions to the Chippewa women’s basketball team.

The 6-foot-2 senior and former Glen Lake star had 4 points and 5 rebounds Saturday in a 73-61 win over Wagner College in the consolation game of a tournament hosted by Northwestern University. On Friday, Northwestern edged the Chippewas, 52-48. Westover had 2 points and 5 rebounds.

Central (3-4) was scheduled to return to action last night, Dec. 5, with a game at Youngstown State.

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Suttons Bay junior Tom Pritz had an assist in the Bay Area Reps’ 7-1 hockey victory over Grand Rapids Christian Saturday. Leelanau County is also represented on the team by sophomore Angus MacClellan, a St. Francis student from Empire. Suttons Bay athletic director Cody Inglis is an assistant coach on the team.

The cooperative hockey team includes students from Suttons Bay, St. Francis, Elk Rapids and Kalkaska. The Reps (2-2) host Mattawan at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Kaliseum in Kalkaska.