Taylor Leath was a regular ball girl at Penn State volleyball games, in awe of the storied program and the brilliance of many of its players, including dominant outside hitter Megan Hodge, her all-time fave. C. J. Prosise Seahawks Jersey .Someday, the voice inside her head told her, I wanna play like that.These days the native of Port Matilda, Pennsylvania, wears a lighter shade of blue than the dark royal color of the Nittany Lions. In a Carolina blue uniform Leaths time has indeed arrived; the redshirt sophomore is the espnW volleyball player of the week after a monster performance on Sunday at Florida State.Behind a career-high 26 kills from Leath, the Tar Heels (21-3) rallied from an 0-2 deficit on the road against the Seminoles to take over sole possession of first place in the ACC and rise to No. 8 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The 26 kills were the most by any North Carolina player since 2005, and along with 13 digs, make eight career double-doubles for Leath. Perhaps more impressively, three of those have come in Tar Heels victories over top-10 opponents this season.The bigger the opponent, the bigger Taylor plays, North Carolina coach Joe Sagula said.Leath also became the programs first AVCA Player of the Week for leading the Tar Heels to their first win in Tallahassee since 2008 and first sweep in the series in 16 years.We were down 2-0, but our team has been through so much in terms of not being in the best situation so many times. Weve come from being down, so I think weve learned to lay it all out, said Leath, who hit .360 in the match. In the first two sets, it wasnt that we werent playing that hard. We just werent playing smart. We just had to settle down.With FSU up 13-10 in the fifth, Carolina went into its blue zone mode, similar to red zone play calling in the NFL. After a timeout, Leath recorded three of the final five points, including consecutive kills, for a 15-13 victory, setting off a raucous celebration.Even with all the momentum shifts, Leath insists she never doubted the outcome.I knew we could make the plays we needed to make, she said. We were all very connected. You get concerned when things are going wrong and everyones on their own island and feels isolated. I never had that feeling, so I never worried. We were never really shook up. We held our composure for the whole match.Leath also played a clean game in Fridays four-set road win over Miami, adding nine kills with just one error to go with eight digs and two aces.Born in Alabama, Leath was in fourth grade when the family moved to Port Matilda, about 20 minutes from Penn States campus. Tall for her age, she tried basketball until she settled in the volleyball-crazed area, and thought Why not?Before she knew it, she was good enough to be on a top club team (Synergy), but she also was a regular ball girl, too, for Nittany Lions games, watching national championship teams with a mop in her hands.I loved Megan Hodge, she said. I loved to watch how dominant she was and how she really didnt care, how she went up for swings with confidence in her ability and training. I always wanted to strive to have that when I was older.As much as Leath loved Penn State games, she didnt see herself a Nittany Lion. The town was small; she wanted to go far. At Penn State, she saw herself filling a spot; as a Tar Heel shes hoping to lead the program to a place its never been, one of the reasons why the 3-2 victory at Penn State on Aug. 27, North Carolinas first at University Hall, was both surreal and satisfying.It was really humbling to play in U-Hall, said Leath, named to the Penn State Classic all-tournament team.An ACL tear in high school forced Leath to redshirt her first season at North Carolina, and last year she started slowly as a three-rotation player. Shes made a huge leap this season, playing all six rotations, using her 6-foot-3 length and physical presence to be a force at the net.Her worth ethic doesnt escape Sagula, who notices shes often among the stragglers leaving practice.A lot of times, as Taylor goes, this team goes, and weve come to rely on that, he said. She has this innate ability to step up for us in big games; its almost like you have to put a ranking in front of a team to get her to play like she did [Sunday]. Earl Thomas III Seahawks Jersey . Listen to the game live on TSN Radio 1050 at 7pm et. The Raptors traded Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, in exchange for Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. Garry Gilliam Seahawks Jersey . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. http://www.theseahawksnflfanatic.com/c-12-seahawks-paul-richardson-jersey.aspx . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. SUNRISE, Fla. -- The last few days have been filled with awkward moments for Florida Panthers interim coach Tom Rowe.First, there was the unfortunate scene where Gerard Gallant loaded his luggage into a taxi after getting fired as Floridas coach last week. Another moment of weirdness came Wednesday, when Rowe settled into Gallants former office for the first time. And on Thursday night, Rowe made his home debut behind the bench -- drawing boos from some in the crowd.It is not a happy time in Pantherland right now.Floridas 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday night was the teams fourth straight defeat, sixth in its last seven games and dropped the team to 12-12-4 through 28 games. That puts the Panthers on pace for 82 points, and its going to take a lot more than that to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs; 93 was the magic number in the East last season, 98 was what it took to get the No. 8 seed two seasons ago.Gallant got Florida to the playoffs last year. Rowe is going to need Florida to pick up the pace if a postseason return is in the cards.We took a chance with this, said Rowe, the Panthers general manager who never was an NHL head coach until the move to fire Gallant. But we just felt a change was needed, a little different direction, a little different voice, work on a few things when it comes to the details of the game. Ive been fired before, too. Its not a lot of fun.If theres a silver lining for Florida right now, its this: A year ago, the Panthers were basically in this same spot. After 28 games last season, they were 13-11-4; thats just two points more ahead of where this team is. And that club ended up winning 47 games, getting 103 points and a division title.But while that team was trending in the right direction, this one isnt. At least, not yet.Weve talked a little bit about that, Rowe said. I think it gives our guys a real good thing to shoot for. Christine Michael Jersey. Weve got a long way to go here in the season. The biggest thing as a coaching staff, weve got to make sure the emotions are even-keeled, not getting too high when we do well, not getting too low when we hit a bump.The bumps have far outnumbered the good times for Florida this season.A team that thought of itself as a Stanley Cup contender coming into the season has been dealt one challenge after another. Forward Jonathan Huberdeau -- who excelled on a line with Jaromir Jagr last season -- is still weeks away from his season debut because of an Achilles issue. Jussi Jokinen missed time with an injury and has only two goals so far. Nick Bjugstad missed the first quarter of the season with a broken wrist and still hasnt scored.Jagr got his sixth goal of the season in Thursdays loss, but even he hasnt been the same as he was a year ago.Were kind of just waiting for those ugly goals, forward Reilly Smith said. You keep putting pucks on net, theyll come.Even the coaching change didnt exactly come at a good time, with Florida one game into a six-game road trip. The Panthers got five points out of the remainder of those games, falling twice in overtime -- then got behind 3-0 in the first eight minutes of Rowes home debut, on the way to the teams worst loss on home ice so far this season.Rowe still sees reason for hope.Its been a little odd, Rowe said. Same parking spot, just different office space. It was surreal, I guess. Put everything else aside -- Im a coach, Ive been a coach for the last 15 years and it really wasnt the plan to come in here and end up coaching. It turned out that way and Im going to embrace it. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China ' ' '