COLLEGE PARK, Md. – No. 10 Penn State women’s volleyball upped its winning streak to eight straight matches with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-15) sweep over Maryland in a Big Ten match Wednesday night at the XFINITY Center. The Nittany Lions moved to 20-5 overall and 12-3 in the conference, while the Terrapins dropped to 13-13, 3-12.
Kennedy Martin, the three-time reigning Big Ten Player of the Week, hit .500 with 17 kills, eight digs, and four blocks, leading the way as Penn State hit .426 as a team. Gabrielle Nichols hit .538 with eight kills and three blocks, while Emmi Sellman tallied eight kills, three blocks, and two aces. Whitney Lauenstein was efficient with seven kills on .353 hitting.
Alexis Stucky helped the Nittany Lions hit .426 with her 40 assists and added eight digs and two aces. It was the third-straight match the team hit better than .300.
Penn State held Maryland to .167 hitting while racking up nine blocks over three sets. Kendall Northern fueled that effort with six blocks in addition to her five kills. Haley Burgdorf contributed six digs, while Ava Falduto and Jocelyn Nathan did their part with five digs apiece.
Sydney Bryant paced the Terrapins with 12 kills, while Raina Chwialkowski contributed a pair of aces.
Set 1
Martin hit .455 with six kills and Nichols tallied four kills on .500 hitting as Penn State took the opening set 25-17. The Nittany Lions opened the match with a 5-0 run and led the rest of the way. Lauenstein got things going with a pair of kills, Nichols and Martin followed with one kill each, and Stucky capped the run with an ace. Maryland got back within one point at 6-5 and again at 10-9, but were denied the tying point with kills by Nichols and Lauenstein, respectively. Lauenstein’s kill was the start of a 3-0 run that made it 13-9, and the Terrapins never got closer than three for the remainder of the set. The final point was eventually scored on a kill by Martin.
Set 2
Martin added seven more kills on .500 hitting and tacked on five digs to lead Penn State to a 25-16 win in set two. The Nittany Lions started to pull away fairly early, going on a 4-0 run to go up 11-6. Martin had a kill and Sellman tallied an ace during that stretch. It was still just a two-point difference at 17-15 before Penn State scored eight of the next nine points to close the set. Martin had three kills and one block, including a kill for set point, during that closing stretch.
Set 3
Sellman, who grew up just 20 minutes from College Park, took over in set three, hitting .556 with six kills to help Penn State secure the sweep with a 25-15 win. Northern and Nichols chipped in with three kills apiece. The Nittany Lions never trailed in the set. Match point came on a kill by Nichols.
Career Highs
Whitney Lauenstein – assists (3)
Up Next
No. 10 Penn State heads to Champaign to play No. 25 Illinois on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. The match will stream on B1G+.
The 2026 Penn State women's volleyball season is presented by Musselman's.