In Middle State’s strongest and largest field ever, Penn State came through pool play and three championship rounds to win its first Section Championship.
Pool play proved interesting as the rain and wind took over Saturday at Lehigh University. Organizers spread the play on Saturday through 3 indoor facilities, modifying the format to first to 4 games. With 5 pools, the pool winners and 3 2nd place teams would advance to the 8-team championship bracket. Penn State A had no trouble in Pool A, winning 85% of their games. Delaware A also had an easy time in Pool B with 82%, and Penn State B finishing 2nd, both advancing. In pool C, Delaware B and Lehigh B both upset UPenn, coming in 1st and 2nd respectively. Delaware B would advance to the championship round. Lehigh A and TCNJ A battled it out in Pool D, with Lehigh coming out the winner and both advancing. Finally in Pool E, Lafayette almost pulled off the upset against Villanova losing 17-16. Still both advanced to the championship round.
The tournament continued indoors on Sunday, with outside winds gusting as high as 50 mph. Penn State A, the top seed out of pool play based on winning percentage, beat TCNJ A 30-6. Villanova beat Delaware B 30-9, Delaware A beat Lafayette 30-12, and Lehigh A pulled out the win against Penn State B 25-19. This set up an all “A” team semi-final: Penn State vs. Villanova, and Lehigh vs. Delaware.
Lehigh cruised past a strong Delaware team 30-17, winning all courts to advance to the final. In the other semi-final Penn State and Villanova, who met in the final last year, took court. They both split the singles and doubles, and went tied going into the mixed doubles. Penn State pushed it into a tiebreak after down 5-3. It came down to one point, Penn State winning the tiebreaker 5-4, and the match 22-21. Penn State then beat Lehigh in the final 26-13, winning 4 courts in the process. Villanova came through for 3rd place, beating Delaware 24-13. In the other side of the draw, Penn State B finished 5th.
Lehigh and Penn State both receive automatic bids to go to the National Campus Championship in Cary, NC on April 26th, 2007. The Middle States League winner will also receive an automatic bid.
