No. 10 Penn State Women’s Volleyball Sweeps Hofstra, Goes Undefeated In Penn State Invitational
No.10 Penn State women’s volleyball swept Hofstra on Sunday afternoon to complete a perfect 3-0 stint in Rec Hall during the Penn State Invitational.
Debuting their grat Adidas uniforms, Whitney Lauenstein and Kennedy Martin combined for 31 kills, Alexis Stucky dished out 31 assists, and libero Ava Falduto tallied 13 digs in the victory.
How It Happened
Kennedy Martin opened the match the only way she knows how, with power, drilling a ball cross-court. The Pride gained three quick points, but Whitney Lauenstein served up an ace, her fourth as a Nittany Lion, to tie the score.
Martin and Hofstra’s Julia Amorim traded swings before Alexis Stucky connected with Gabrielle Nichols out of the middle to knot the set at 5-5. Haley Burgdorf got in on the action with a kill from the outside, and the Stucky-Nichols connection executed a slide for a four-point advantage.
Out of a Pride timeout, Dawn Pena notched a kill, but Lauenstein ended any hopes of a run with a monstrous swing for an 11-7 lead. Three straight Hofstra errors and a Martin kill to open court had the Nittany Lions leading 15-8 at the media timeout.
Martin swung off the block out of the break, but two Penn State errors and a tip over the block put Hofstra within five.
Stucky dropped in a sneaky dump after back-to-back kills from Pride outside hitter Maria Afonso. A Hofstra challenge reversed an attack error, and Afonso registered another kill to cut the deficit to four.
Martin found her sweet spot, short cross-court, and Finley Krystkowiak nailed an overpass to the floor, forcing a Hofstra timeout with Penn State leading 21-15.
Finley sends it back with some heat
— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) August 30, 2026#WeAre pic.twitter.com/dbcR45H5gJ
Geovanna Gonçalves Rocha and Pena rose for two blocks, and just when Hofstra felt a rhythm, a fiery Kennedy Martin smoked a Stucky set.
Lauenstein-Nichols combined for a block and Martin once again hammered down a ball from the back row for set point. A Hofstra service error gave the Nittany Lions the set one victory, 25-20.
Set two was all Lauenstein, who buried four kills to give Penn State a quick 4-1 lead. Nichols notched a kill, and the teams traded service errors before Martin delivered an ace, causing Hofstra to burn a timeout early.
Krystkowiak earned her second kill of the match, and Martin added two more service aces.
Freshman Kendall Northern executed two devastating slides, one down the line and one on a sharp angle for a 14-4 lead.
After halting a 7-0 run, Beatriz Braga swung for a kill, and Nil Kayaalp notched a service ace for the Pride.
Lauenstein put three points on the board for Penn State, firing a ball off Hofstra hands, elevating for a solo block, and hitting an off-speed ball to midcourt.
Braga slowed Lauenstein’s run with a kill, but a Nichols’ swing out of the middle resulted in a Pride timeout with the score sitting at 19-9.
It was all Penn State down the stretch, with Lauenstein and Nichols doubling for another block, blistering shots from Martin and Lauenstein for set point.
Bodies flew all over the court for the last point, including Jocelyn Nathan sending over a tough third ball that eventually led to Martin putting away set two with her ninth kill.
Set three was a continued display of dominance from the Nittany Lions, with Lauenstein and Martin both reaching double-digit kills.
Ryla Jones got in on the action, registering a kill and tag-teaming with Martin and Krystkowiak for two blocks, giving Penn State a quick 6-1 lead.
A service error ended the 6-0 run, but Jones and Martin combined for three kills, causing Hofstra to burn both of their timeouts before either team hit the ten-point mark.
The Pride earned two points from Amorim, but Martin and Northern swung to earn the points right back. Braga and Lauenstein traded kills before Martin hammered a shot in front of the ten-foot line for the 15-8 Penn State edge.
Constanza Perez Sain and Jones exchanged shots out of the media timeout. Sonja Rundcrantz delivered a service ace for the Pride, and an Afonso kill put Hofstra within four. Hofstra recovered from two errors, and Braga kept the team within the same margin.
Lauenstein delivered back-to-back shots from the outside, setting the score at 21-16. Hofstra stayed fighting, tallying a kill and two blocks, but it wasn’t enough to stop Lauenstein, who hammered home another kill.
Stucky served up an ace for the 23-19 advantage, but Hofstra cut the deficit to one. Martin then sent a blistering shot down for match point and closed out the match with a shot off the Hofstra block for the 25-23 set win and match sweep.
Takeaways
- Whitney Lauenstein is a huge difference maker for this Penn State offense. The graduate student delivered 30 kills throughout the tournament.
- Kennedy Martin remains the Nittany Lions’ most dominant weapon, registering a 17-kill game against the Pride.
- Katie Schumacher-Cawley is not afraid to lean on her freshmen. Kendall Northern, Finley Krystkowiak, and Haley Burgdorf all saw significant playing time in this match and over the weekend.
What’s Next?
Penn State will travel to Chicago to face Kentucky in the inaugural Allstate Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge at Wrigley Field at 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 6. The match will be broadcast nationally on FOX.
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