It was seven months ago when Penn State women’s volleyball won its eighth national championship in program history. Now, on August 23, it will begin its bid to repeat as national champions when it opens its season against Creighton in the AVCA First Serve Event.

On Monday, Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, libero Gillian Grimes, and setter Izzy Starck took the podium in Chicago for Big Ten Volleyball Media Days ahead of the 2025 season. The national champs will look completely different ahead of next season as they lost five players from last year’s team. Now, the Nittany Lions will have to depend on newer faces if they are to become the first team to repeat as national champions since the Texas Longhorns did it in 2021-22.

“I don’t think I’ve changed a lot in the gym with these guys. I think it’s more of just always being present and enjoying the little things,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “They know they need to put in the work and the time to be great, and they hold each other accountable. I think the standard is still the same, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Despite losing three starters from last year’s team, Penn State has been busy reloading its roster for the 2025 season as it added five recruits on National Signing Day and three transfers, including 2024 AVCA First-Team All-American Kennedy Martin during the offseason. Along with the veterans from last year’s team, the expectations for next season haven’t changed at all for the Nittany Lions.

Nevertheless, Penn State will not be the favorites to win the Big Ten heading into next season, as Nebraska claimed the top spot in the Big Ten preseason poll, ahead of Penn State, which came in second. It has a tough regular season schedule as it will face 16 teams that made last year’s NCAA Tournament, but the team still has the same goal as always: winning.

“I think our goal is to always win, and these guys have really high expectations. But you can do everything right and still fall short, so I think it’s just coming to work every day and being prepared and being the best teammates they can be,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “We do want to win again, and is there pressure? I think it’s fun for these guys. I think they’ve handled themselves very well on and off the court, and that matters.”

After winning the national championship last season, the Nittany Lions will have a lot of pressure to repeat, just like all returning national championship teams do. Not only will the spotlight be very high on Penn State because of that, but also because it will have a record of 16 regular-season matches being televised, including four nationally televised matches on FOX.

However, Penn State doesn’t look to be deterred by this pressure, as it is setting its own expectations for next season and making sure that the spotlight doesn’t get too much on the players. To make that happen, the veterans in the team, like Starck, know that they will have to be the leaders to help the new players on the team.

“I think there’s always been pressure for us, so I think coming into this season it’s just the same mindset we always have of how we work hard with each other, how we push each other,” Starck said. “I definitely think winning the National Championship last year does help us because we know what it takes, and we know how to help the new players in the program, of how we can be the best functioning team together.”

As the Nittany Lions continue to prepare for next season, the spring has served as the perfect opportunity for new recruits like Emmi Sellman and Gabrielle Nichols to showcase their talents. In Penn State’s spring match against Pitt, Sellman had 19 kills on a .341 hitting percentage. She also added four service aces, six digs, and three blocks, as she is looking to replicate the same production as Jess Mruzik did.

Nichols, who also appeared in the spring match, has high expectations heading into the season as she was selected to the USA’s U19 Team that competed in the 2025 World Championship in the summer, where it finished second. With the spring being over, Grimes said that a lot stood out from the new recruits in the spring.

“I think they both bring such a competitive energy to the gym, and I think that’s all what we need, and like I said, Coach [Schumacher-Cawley] does a great job of recruiting players that want to be here and are really competitive,” Grimes said. “I think they just bring such competitiveness to the team that is needed, too.”