Penn State women’s volleyball returns to NCAA Tournament for 45th consecutive year
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- Penn State returns to NCAA Tournament for a 45th straight year, seeded No. 8.
- Defending champion Nittany Lions lost star setter and slid to an 18–12 record.
- Penn State has a perfect Round of 64 record since 1998 and eight national titles.
Penn State women’s volleyball won their eighth national championship last season after a storybook run that included a reverse-sweep against Nebraska in the Final Four, and they’ll return to the national stage this year as they look to defend that title.
The Nittany Lions’ title defense will begin Friday in Austin, Texas, where they’ll take on South Florida as the No. 8 seed in the Texas Regional Bracket. First serve is set for 5:30 p.m. and the contest can be streamed on ESPN+.
It will be the Nittany Lions’ 45th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, as they are the only team to never miss the postseason. Additionally, they have never lost in the Round of 64 since the field became that size in 1998.
The Nittany Lions’ eight national championships came in 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2013 and 2024. They’re the only team to ever win four straight titles, and the legendary Russ Rose led Penn State for seven of the eight championships.
Penn State finished the year ranked No. 25 after a four-set win over Iowa to close out the regular season, but 2025 as a whole left much to be desired for the Nittany Lions. The defending national champions lost their star setter Izzy Starck, who announced on Sept. 5 that she’d be taking a mental health break . Starck recently posted on Instagram that she’ll be entering the transfer portal this offseason.
On top of losing the former AVCA Freshman of the Year, the Nittany Lions went 18-12 overall with a 12-8 record in the Big Ten. They had 10 more losses this season than they had last year and finished seventh in the conference after sharing the Big Ten title with Nebraska in 2024.
If Penn State wants to make a run in the postseason, it’ll need to leave its regular season struggles behind and focus on defeating South Florida. The two teams have faced each other three times in 1986, 1988 and 2015, with the Nittany Lions sweeping the Bulls in each meeting. This will be their first matchup in the NCAA Tournament.
South Florida finished the year with a 17-2 record and went 12-4 in the American Conference. The winner of Penn State’s matchup with the Bulls will face the victor of Texas, which holds the top seed in the region, and Florida A&M.
Friday’s matchup will mark just the third time in the last 26 years that Penn State will begin the NCAA Tournament away from Rec Hall, with the most recent occurrence coming in 2023. That year, the Nittany Lions defeated Yale and Kansas to advance to the NCAA Regional, where they lost to Wisconsin.
Across its undefeated record in the Round of 64, Penn State has dropped just three sets ever to its opponents in the first round. The Nittany Lions will look to continue that dominance Friday in Texas as they begin their chase for a ninth national championship.