Penn State women’s volleyball opens the season at No. 10 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, the AVCA announced on Monday.

The Nittany Lions received 947 votes, narrowly placing them behind Purdue and Texas A&M. Fellow Big Ten teams Nebraska and Wisconsin were also included in the top 10, while Minnesota, Indiana, and Oregon fell just below that.

Penn State finished the 2025 season with an overall record of 19-13, going 12-8 in Big Ten play, but was eliminated early in the NCAA tournament after being swept by Texas in the second round.

The Nittany Lions will lean on 6-foot-6 right-side hitter Kennedy Martin in 2026, who was named to the Player of the Year watchlist after recording 634 kills and 48 service aces in her first year at Penn State last year.

“She plays hard all the time. She calls herself a ball hog, and I love that about her because she wants to get every kill. I’m proud of the work she put in this spring and summer, and she’s ready to go,” Schumacher-Cawley said at Big Ten Media Days.

Penn State will begin its season at the Spikes Under the Lights event in AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday, August 27.

The first home games of the year will be part of a three-match set in the Penn State Invitational. The Nittany Lions will take on UConn, High Point, and Hofstra on August 29 and August 30.