Penn State women’s volleyball is red hot, folks

The Nittany Lions jumped up nine spots to No. 11 in the latest AVCA Division I Coaches Poll. The nine-spot rise for Penn State is the highest of any team that was ranked in last week’s poll.

Big weekend matches resulted in shifts in the new AVCA Div. I Coaches Poll. @TexasVolleyball and @Huskervball keep the top spots, then @PennStateVBALL jumps up from No. 20 to 11, and No. 24 @RazorbackVB enters the rankings for the first time since 2015.https://t.co/mfbSo2lDQy pic.twitter.com/ga7sdq5Lfb

— AVCA (@AVCAVolleyball) September 12, 2022

Eight matches into her tenure, Katie Schumacher-Cawley has yet to lose, as she has led her team to a dominant 8-0 record. Most recently, the Nittany Lions downed two ranked teams — Stanford and Oregon — in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge.

Penn State is the sixth-highest ranked Big Ten team in the top 25, trailing Nebraska (No. 2), Wisconsin (No. 4), Ohio State (No. 5), Minnesota (No. 6), and Purdue (No. 10).

The Nittany Lions brought in some individual honors on Monday, too. Outside hitter Kashauna Williams brought in Big Ten Co-Player of the Week honors, while middle blocker Allie Holland earned the conference’s Defensive Player of the Week award.

Next up for the Nittany Lions is the Penn State Classic. They’ll take on Howard, Albany, and Coastal Carolina during the two-day event that begins Friday, September 16.

The following weekend, Penn State will begin conference play with two home matchups against Indiana and Michigan, respectively. The match against Indiana is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, September 23, while the Michigan game is slated for the next night at 7 p.m.