UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Head coach Mark Pavlik and Penn State men’s volleyball announced the team’s 2026 schedule on Monday. The slate features 14 home matches, including two against Hawaii, which will make the trip to Rec Hall for the first time since the 2002 NCAA Tournament.
The Nittany Lions open the 2026 season with four straight home matches over the first two weeks as they welcome Mount Olive (Jan. 9), Manhattan (Jan. 10), St. Thomas Aquinas (Jan. 15), and Lewis (Jan. 17) to Happy Valley. Mount Olive returns to Rec Hall for the first time since 2018 after making the trip 11 times from 2005-18. The matches against Manhattan and St. Thomas Aquinas are the first in program history against each team, while the series with Lewis continues with the 40th matchup between the teams.
Penn State goes on the road for the first time when it travels to Lebanon, Illinois to take on McKendree for a pair of matches on Jan. 23-24. The Nittany Lions and Bearcats have met just one other time, which resulted in a sweep by the Nittany Lions in 2019.
January wraps up with what will be a highly-anticipated pair of matches against Hawaii on Jan. 30-31. The teams are far from strangers with 28 matches in the series history, but 22 of those were played in Honolulu. The only time the teams met at Rec Hall, the Rainbow Warriors came out on top 3-1 in the semifinal round of the NCAA Tournament.
February opens with the final two matches against Saint Francis before the Red Flash transition to Division III for the 2027 season. The teams meet at Rec Hall on Feb. 6 and then play in Loretto the following day. The teams have a longstanding series history with 59 matchups.
Penn State then opens EIVA play with four consecutive opponents against conference opponents. Penn State plays defending EIVA regular season champion Princeton (Feb. 13-14) at Dillon Gymnasium, where the Nittany Lions secured the EIVA Tournament title last season. They then host Harvard for two conference matches on Feb. 20-21 before hosting Merrimack for a non-conference contest on Feb. 27.
This year’s spring break trip sees Penn State head to the West Coast for three matches. The Nittany Lions play at defending NCAA champion Long Beach State (March 7), at Pepperdine (March 11), and at fellow Big Ten institution USC (March 14). Their match at Pepperdine is the team’s first against the Waves in Malibu since 2012.
After a 10-day break, Penn State continues a rivalry series against Ohio State, but this season’s edition has a twist. The teams will meet in Pittsburgh when they play at the Fitzgerald Field House on March 24.
The Nittany Lions close the regular season with eight straight EIVA matches as they host NJIT (March 27-28), play at Charleston (April 3-4), travel to Sacred Heart (April 10-11), and host George Mason (April 17-18). The team will celebrate Senior Day against the Patriots on April 18.
This year’s EIVA Tournament will again be played at the site of the highest seed. The event opens with the quarterfinal round on April 22, continues with the semifinals on April 23, and wraps up with the championship match on April 25.
Penn State entered last season’s EIVA Tournament as the No. 3 seed but swept all three opponents on its way to winning the championship for a third-straight year.