‘The expectation is always to win here.’ PSU women’s volleyball starts strong with new coach

Heightened expectations are nothing new for Penn State women’s volleyball, but the head coach tasked with meeting those expectations is.

It’d be an understatement to claim Katie Schumacher-Cawley has big shoes to fill after the retirement of longtime coach Russ Rose — ginormous would probably be more on par.

But the first-year coach has started 2022 off in dominant fashion. Fueled by talented veterans and a number of strong newcomers, Penn State is 11-0 on the year and sits at No. 9 in the nation, as ranked by the AVCA.

“The expectation is always to win here,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “I would love for this team to, you know, win something big and to be a part of that.”

In 42 seasons leading the blue and white, Rose won seven national championships, 17 Big Ten titles and five AVCA National Coach of the Year awards. In reality, the argument against Rose — Division I’s all-time leader in wins — as the greatest coach in the history of the sport is difficult to make.

This precedent set by the storied coach isn’t lost on his successor, who was a national champion and two-time All-American under the tutelage of Rose from 1998-2002.

In addition to her prowess on the court, Schumacher-Cawley spent the previous four years under Rose as an assistant. The Nittany Lions made the NCAA Tournament in every one of those four seasons, going 84-31 even with the coronavirus-shortened 2020 campaign — which was played in the spring of 2021.

“I expect the players to go hard all the time, and I think that’s something that he did as well with the players but the staff, the staff as well,” Schumacher-Cawley said of Rose. “My expectations for the team never changed what his was — to win and to be successful.”

Thus far this year, it’s hard not to think the head coach’s expectations have been met. In addition to its undefeated record, Penn State dropped just three total sets in its first six matches, though its next two matchups proved to be a lot more challenging.

Facing its first ranked opponents of the year, the blue and white dropped two sets in each contest against a different Pac-12 team. First came No. 11 Stanford, which forced a fifth set, after dropping the first two, but eventually fell to the Nittany Lions.

The match with No. 18 Oregon was far more back-and-forth in nature. The Ducks took the second and fourth frames while the Nittany Lions won the other three, including the decisive fifth, 15-9.

A key player in those wins was junior middle blocker Allie Holland, who sits eighth in the nation in blocks per set through games on Sept. 18.

In her first road trip of the season, Holland also racked up 15 kills and tied Purdue transfer Taylor Trammell for a team-high total 16 blocks against the West Coast opponents. Most recently, in Penn State’s weekend sweep of Howard, Albany and Coastal Carolina, Holland racked up 24 kills in eight sets.

Holland is one of nine players to have played for Schumacher-Cawley both when she was an assistant and the head coach at Penn State.

“I think it’s been great,” Holland said of Schumacher-Cawley’s move to head coach. “I mean, clearly, we’re getting the results that we want right now. But she has a lot of experience in this gym, obviously, playing here and coaching here for so long. So, I think it was a really smooth transition, because a lot of the players had known her from her assistant coaching years.”

Along with the major shift at the top coaching position came an even bigger roster turnover.

To mitigate the loss of a staggering seven transfers, Penn State’s 2022 recruiting class brought in seven new players to Happy Valley, including four veterans via the transfer portal.

“We were lucky enough to be here a little bit in the summer and get some work together then, so I think that made it a lot easier to transition in,” Holland said about the newcomers’ move to Penn State. “I think that all the transfers are great pickups for us, and I think that they’re great teammates and friends as well.”

Likely the biggest loss for the Nittany Lions was perennial All-American Kaitlyn Hord who transferred to conference rival Nebraska in January. To help replace Hord, the program brought in outside hitter Zoe Weatherington and Long Beach State transfer Kashauna Williams, to bolster the attack, and Trammell, for her defensive prowess.

Another major loss for the squad was former All-American setter Gabby Blossom, who left Penn State for San Diego after four years under Rose. Blossom’s transfer replacement is former CSU Bakersfield setter Seleisa Elisaia, who leads the Nittany Lions and is fifth in the conference in assists per set.

Moving cross-country is a tough task for anyone, especially when it means leaving behind family; this reality resonates well with Elisaia.

“(Schumacher-Cawley has) really helped it be super comfortable for me being so far away from home, you know, coming all the way across the country,” Elisaia said. “She’s always checking in on me and making sure I’m OK outside of the court.”

While it’s clear Penn State’s student-athletes, new and old alike, think highly of their first-year head coach, there’s little doubt continuing to win will only improve that fact.

If Penn State’s jump from 20th to ninth, over two weeks, in the AVCA poll is any indication of the direction the team is headed, those winning ways won’t slow any time soon. With a conference matchup against Indiana just days away, the blue and white’s sights are set on the near future.

“It’s nice to see, but — it’s also — it’s not where you’re ranked right now, it’s at the end of the season,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “Us being prepared for Big Ten play is what our goal is right now.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 7:00 AM.