Penn State women’s volleyball is ‘excited’ and ready to go after a challenging extended preseason
Russ Rose has seen it all.
The Penn State women’s volleyball coach is about to begin his 42nd season at the helm of the program. He’s won seven national titles, 17 conference championships and is the leader of one of only two programs to compete at all 39 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball National Championship events.
Even with his impressive list of accomplishments, he hasn’t seen a season like the one ahead. Between wearing masks, having a monthslong preseason from August to January, he and his players are ready to finally take the court and begin the season.
“It’s been a challenging period of time,” Rose told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “It’s great that these individuals even get an opportunity to play, so we’re appreciative of that opportunity and hope that the players embrace it and play really hard.”
The legendary Penn State head coach is preparing his team for the 2020 season — which begins Friday — and helping it navigate down a path even he hasn’t taken before with a group of players who haven’t played competitively with their team in more than a year.
Rose and his players began preparing for the season in the summer of 2020 when the status of fall sports was uncertain. The head coach was just as in the dark as everyone else, but that didn’t stop his players from peppering him with questions.
“There might’ve been some frustration in the players’ eyes, but I would always say, ‘Hey this is what I know,’” Rose said. “I don’t know the schedule because I didn’t know the schedule and we didn’t even know the schedule until eight or 10 days ago and that’s starting this weekend.”
When those answers came in and the schedule was set, it came with an interesting change. The team will be playing a conference-only schedule with 11 opponents — compared to the usual 10 in the Big Ten — and 22 total matches. They’ll play each opponent twice, with each matchup coming back-to-back and all but one — the team’s matches with Ohio State — taking place on consecutive days.
Those matchups will present a unique challenge, which Rose compared to the NCAA Tournament, when there isn’t much down time.
Fortunately for Rose, his team brings back multiple key returners from last year’s 27-6 team that made the NCAA Regional Final, including juniors Gabby Blossom and Jonni Parker. Their previous experience should help prepare them for a consolidated schedule that presents a unique set of challenges.
While the Big Ten usually plays back-to-back matchups, playing the same opponent in consecutive days will be new, and Parker believes it could make things easier for the Nittany Lions.
“It could be easier in the sense that we only have to scout one team per weekend,” Parker said Wednesday afternoon. “You don’t have to worry about two different teams for back-to-back nights. As far as traveling, it may be a little easier on people’s bodies and the mentality side of things. I don’t know, I guess we’ll see in the first couple weekends if it’s different with same teams.”
The ongoing pandemic has altered more than just the 2020 season. Moving the season from the fall to the spring has also created limited down time if the Big Ten plans to get back to its usual plan for the 2021 season. There will be far less time off as the team rolls into the fall 2021 season from spring 2021 and that can create its own set of issues, including fatigue and limited training time.
Blossom isn’t concerned about those potential problems, because she believes her team will be as ready as ever if that’s how the next 12 months play out.
“I’m excited to play,” she said. “If it’s back-to-back, it’s back-to-back. I think we’re just excited that we’re playing right now and what comes down the road is gonna happen and we’re just gonna need to be how we are now. Just expecting things to change and to get news on the fly, but I think the opportunity to compete is amazing and we’re really excited, so if we do that back-to-back that would be great.”
Preparing for the 2021 season may not be seen as an issue for the junior Nittany Lion, but preparing to build the roster is going to be a challenge for Rose. He and his staff were unable to host camps during the summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, making recruiting difficult.
That may be the case again this summer and Rose said he’s preparing for a reality that involves a different type of recruiting than his usual style.
“It’s really a challenge,” Rose said. “It’s forced a virtual scenario where people are sending you video all the time. ... For people that are in a big city, you might be able to see those individuals during the high school season or you can see them a lot easier. Our location makes it a little more challenging. It may result in having to be more active in looking at players on the transfer portal or maybe looking at international players if we feel that we can enter into that world.”
But those issues are down the road. For the time being, the team is excited to be on the court again and ready to take on the challenge of the season ahead. There are plenty of alterations the Nittany Lions have had to make to get to this point and they’ve done so with their eyes on the court.
For Parker, this is what all of the consternation over the season was all about and now it’s time to move forward and make the delay worth their while.
“We’re all really excited for the season to finally be here and when we got this schedule it was real,” she said. “We knew it was happening. So we were excited, got in the gym and got to work. That’s been our attitude ever since. Let’s have some fun. ... We’re all really excited.”
Penn State women’s volleyball 2021 schedule
Jan 22 (Fri) at 6 p.m.: at Michigan
Jan 23 (Sat) at 6 p.m.: at Michigan
Jan 26 (Tue) at 7 p.m.: vs. Ohio State
Jan 31 (Sun) at 4:30 p.m.: at Ohio State
Feb 5 (Fri) at 9 p.m.: vs. Illinois
Feb 6 (Sat) at 6:30: vs. Illinois
Feb 13 (Sat) at 8 p.m.: at Minnesota
Feb 14 (Sun) at 7:30 p.m.: at Minnesota
Feb 19 (Fri) TBA: vs. Indiana
Feb 20 (Sat) TBA: vs. Indiana
Feb 26 (Fri) TBA: at Maryland
Feb 27 (Sat) TBA: at Maryland
March 5 (Fri) TBA: vs. Purdue
March 6 (Sat) 2 p.m.: vs. Purdue
March 12 (Fri) TBA: vs. Rutgers
March 13 (Sat) TBA: vs. Rutgers
March 19 (Fri) TBA: at Michigan State
March 20 (Sat) TBA: at Michigan State
March 26 (Fri) TBA: vs. Wisconsin
March 27 (Sat) TBA: vs. Wisconsin
Apr 1 (Thu) at 9 p.m.: at Nebraska
Apr 2 (Fri) at 9 p.m.: at Nebraska
