UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State’s Kennedy Martin was named to the AVCA Women’s Volleyball National Player of the Year Watch List on Wednesday. The senior was one of 30 players to make the list, including 10 from the Big Ten.
Martin made an appearance on the Player of the Year Watch List for a third-consecutive season. She went on to be one of 14 semifinalists in each of the past two seasons.
Martin enters her fourth collegiate season with 1,638 kills, including 634 with the Nittany Lions last year. She led the nation in points/set (6.28) as a sophomore and was second in the nation in that category with 6.22/set as a junior.
The list of accolades already achieved by Martin is long. She is a three-time All-American, including a spot on the first team in each of the past two seasons, a two-time Academic All-American, a three-time all-region honoree, and a three-time all-conference recipient, earning two while in the SEC and one in her lone season so far in the Big Ten.
The AVCA first released a preseason Watch List for its National Player of the Year award in 2024. Penn State has had at least one player make the initial group of names in each of the first three seasons since then.
-- The 2026 Penn State women’s volleyball season is presented by Musselman’s.