MATCH DAY: No. 18 Women's Volleyball Hosts Northwestern Friday, No. 20 Washington Sunday

OPENING NOTES
• Penn State continues Big Ten play with a pair of matches at Rec Hall this week. The Nittany Lions host Northwestern on Friday at 7:30 p.m. They then welcome Washington to Happy Valley on Sunday at noon. That match will air on B1G Network.
• With the addition of a Big Ten Tournament in 2026, the conference regular season schedule has been shortened to 17 matches with every team playing each other one time.
• The Nittany Lions will play eight Big Ten matches at Rec Hall this season and nine on the road.
• Penn State was picked third in the 2026 Big Ten Preseason Poll. Northwestern voted 14th, while Washington came in at 13th.

LAST TIME OUT
• Kennedy Martin and Haley Burgdorf each had double-doubles to lead Penn State to a 3-1 win over Iowa on Saturday at Rec Hall. Martin hit .526 with 24 kills, 14 digs, three blocks, and four aces. Burgdorf hit .588 with 11 kills and 11 digs.
• Alexis Stucky racked up an impressive 54 assists over just four sets while guiding the Penn State attack to .317 hitting as a team. Whitney Lauenstein finished with 13 kills, while Kendall Northern had a career-high seven.

UP NEXT
• Penn State heads to California for a pair of Big Ten matches. The Nittany Lions play at UCLA on Friday and at USC on Saturday.

SERIES HISTORY - NORTHWESTERN
• Penn State is 60-9 in the all-time series with Northwestern. The teams first played in 1981.
• The Nittany Lions have won 13 straight matches over the Wildcats, with the last loss coming in 2015. They have won 37 of the past 38 meetings.
• Penn State is 31-1 against Northwestern at Rec Hall, including a 3-1 win in the most recent match there between the teams last season.
• Ava Falduto has averaged 4.88 digs/set in two career matches against Northwestern. Kennedy Martin hit .412 with 24 kills, seven digs, and two blocks in the four-set win over the Wildcats last season.

SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN
• Northwestern is 7-8 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten following four straight losses to then-No. 23 USC (3-0), UCLA (3-0), then-No. 20 Minnesota (3-0), and Ohio State (3-1).
• The Wildcats’ top win in non-conference play based on RPI came by a 3-1 score over Ball State, which enters the week ranked No. 34 in RPI.
• Northwestern was picked 14th in the 18-team Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll. The Wildcats did not have any players named Preseason All-Big Ten.
• Laura Dignan ranks fourth in the Big Ten in digs/set (3.95).

SERIES HISTORY - WASHINGTON
• Penn State is 4-3 in the all-time series with Washington. The teams first played in 1992.
• The Nittany Lions won the first Big Ten matchup with the Huskies 3-1 in 2024, but the Huskies turned the tables with a five-set win in Seattle last season.
• The Nittany Lions are 1-1 against the Huskies in Seattle, falling 3-1 in the 2006 NCAA Regional Final but winning 3-0 in the 2013 NCAA National Semifinal.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON
• Washington is 12-1 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten following a 3-0 sweep over then-No. 10 Purdue. The Huskies opened the season with 11 consecutive wins before being swept by Illinois.
• The Huskies’ top non-conference win was a 3-1 victory over Oklahoma, which enters the week 34th in the RPI.
• Washington was picked 13th in the 18-team Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll. The Huskies did not have any players selected to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team.
• The Huskies rank third in the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.153).