Penn State volleyball earns top 10 ranking to start 2024

Penn State volleyball will look to take another step under third-year head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley in 2024. The Nittany Lions are fresh off their second consecutive Sweet 16 appearance a year ago, and expectations for this season are high as Penn State enters as the No. 7 team nationally in the preseason AVCA Poll.

Can Katie Schumacher-Cawley return the Nittany Lions to former glory in 2024?

Mandatory Credit: Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports

Penn State is one of the blue bloods of women’s volleyball. The Nittany Lions are the only program to appear in all 43 NCAA Tournaments and have seven National Championships, the second most in the country. 

With legendary head coach Russ Rose retiring after the 2021 season, it was unclear how the program would sustain under Katie Schumacher-Cawley. Penn State volleyball was still a regular in the NCAA Tournament but had lost its championship touch, appearing in just one Final Four in the last seven seasons under Rose.

Schumacher-Cawley led Penn State to a 26-8 (13-7) and 23-9 (15-5) record in her first two years at the helm. Both seasons resulted in NCAA Regional Semifinal (Sweet 16) appearances. 

Now after signing the No. 1 overall recruit Izzy Starck in the 2024 class and picking up multiple top players from the transfer portal, the expectations have shifted for this season.

Despite the young lineup, Many analysts expect the Nittany Lions to return to national title contention this season. Penn State’s No. 7 preseason ranking puts it behind only Nebraska (No. 2) and Wisconsin (No. 3) within the Big Ten. 

Penn State volleyball will be tested early and often this season

Last season, Penn State volleyball entered with a preseason ranking of No. 8, but couldn’t get its footing early in the non-conference slate and fell toward the middle of the top 25 after just a few weeks. In 2024, the Nittany Lions once again have an incredibly tough non-conference schedule in addition to the already-loaded Big Ten. 

Penn State starts the season at No. 15 Tennessee and hosts No. 6 Louisville for the home opener while also playing at No. 9 Kentucky and No. 4 Pitt in September. The non-conference schedule alone could vault the Nittany Lions to the top of the RPI if they have a good showing. 

The Big Ten schedule includes home matchups with No. 2 Nebraska, No. 10 Oregon, and No. 18 Minnesota, road contests with No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 21 USC, and a home-and-home series with No. 8 Purdue. Eleven of Penn State’s 35 games this year are against ranked opponents, with four more matchups against teams that received votes in the preseason poll.

While challenging, the schedule could prove advantageous for Schumacher-Cawley and the Nittany Lions. Typically, losing games to highly ranked opponents doesn’t hurt RPI rankings, but knocking off the top-ranked squads could vault Penn State into the top five. 

A top-five ranking would be crucial for the postseason, as the top 16 teams host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. More importantly, higher seeds host the Regional Semifinals and Finals, which could make or break whether a program advances to the Final Four. 

Penn State volleyball opens the 2024 season next Friday, August 30, in Knoxville against the Tennessee Volunteers. The game will be broadcast at 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPNU. 

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