UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- No. 13 Penn State Women's Volleyball is set to host the 54th edition of the in-state matchup with No. 5 Pitt when the Panthers come to Rec Hall on Wednesday. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will air live on B1G Network.
FAN INFO
• FAN INFO- Please see this link for important information that includes ticketing, parking, and bag policy for the venue.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Wednesday, Sept. 17 | 7 p.m.
No. 5 Pitt (7-2) at No. 13 Penn State (4-3) | Live Stats | B1G Network
OPENING NOTES
• Penn State continues its long homestand with a non-conference match against No. 5 Pittsburgh on Wednesday. It is the fourth of nine straight home matches for the Nittany Lions.
• The Nittany Lions are 50-6 at Rec Hall in Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s four seasons as head coach. They went a perfect 20-0 at home last season.
• Penn State averaged 4,320 fans through its first three home matches -- against No. 4 Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Bucknell.
RANKED OPPONENTS
• Penn State is playing a nationally-ranked opponent for the sixth time in the first eight matches of the season.
SERIES HISTORY
• Penn State is 33-20 in the all-time series with Pitt. The teams first played in 1977.
• Pitt has won three of the last four matches in the series after Penn State won 16 straight from 1987-2017.
• The Nittany Lions are 18-4 against the Panthers at Rec Hall. Wednesday marks the first match between the teams at Rec Hall since 2019.
SCOUTING PITT
• Pitt is 7-2 overall. The Panthers dropped their first two matches of the season to nationally-ranked opponents but bounced back with seven consecutive wins. The streak included wins over No. 25 TCU, No. 7 Arizona State, and No. 3 Kentucky.
• The Panthers have played in four straight NCAA National Semifinals.
• Leading the way for Pitt is the reigning AVCA National Player of the Year, junior right side Olivia Babcock.
• The Panthers were picked first in the 2025 ACC Preseason Poll. Joining Babcock on the Preseason All-ACC Team were teammates Blaire Bayless, Ryla Jones, and Bre Kelley.
PENN STATE AGAINST THE ACC
• Penn State is 116-42 all-time against current members of the ACC.
• The Nittany Lions have played 15 of the 18 teams in the conference and have a winning record against 14 of them. They are unbeaten against eight ACC opponents, going a combined 39-0 against Cal, Clemson, Duke, N.C. State, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest.
• Penn State went 4-1 against the ACC last season, including a 3-1 win over Louisville to win the National Championship.
LAST TIME OUT
• Penn State rested its top scorer (Kennedy Martin) but still managed to cruise to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-10, 25-20) sweep over Bucknell last week at Rec Hall.
• Freshman outside hitter Alexis Ewing earned her first-career start and came up big, hitting .429 with a career-high eight kills and a career-high five blocks.
• Addie Lyon guided an efficient offense in her third-straight start at setter, racking up 37 assists as the Nittany Lions hit .375 as a team. Jordan Hopp helped that cause with seven kills on .750 hitting. Maggie Mendelson hit .471 with nine kills. Emmi Sellman led all players with 10 kills, while Caroline Jurevicius contributed eight.
• Gillian Grimes helped hold the Bison to .086 hitting with her 14 digs. She also had one of the team’s five aces. Lyon came through with three aces.
STREAKS TO WATCH
Gillian Grimes
· 3 straight matches with at least one ace
Kennedy Martin
· 58 straight matches with double-digit kills when playing at least three sets
· 3 straight matches with at least one ace
REC HALL STREAK
• The Nittany Lions own a long winning streak at Rec Hall, winning 24 straight at home dating back to the 2023 season. The Nittany Lions’ last home loss came to Nebraska on Nov. 3, 2023.
NATIONAL RANKING STREAK
• Penn State was ranked No. 13 in the latest AVCA Poll.
• The Nittany Lions have been ranked in 554 consecutive AVCA Coaches Polls, which dates back to the final poll of the 1988 season.
WIN THE FIRST SET
• Penn State has won the first set in 1,419 of its 1,767 matches all-time, or 80 percent of the time.
• Of those 1,419 matches in which the Nittany Lions won the opening set, they went on to win the match 1,327 times, or 94 percent of the time.
UP NEXT
• Penn State welcomes Princeton and Central Michigan for the Penn State Classic on Friday-Sunday.