CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 10 Penn State women’s volleyball beat a nationally-ranked opponent for the sixth time in a span of 23 days with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-21) win at No. 25 Illinois in a Big Ten match Saturday night at Huff Hall. The Nittany Lions improved to 21-5 overall and 13-3 in the conference with their ninth-straight win, while the Illini fell to 17-10, 9-7.
Kennedy Martin recorded her seventh double-double of the season and the 28th of her career, hitting .333 with 15 kills and 15 digs. Whitney Lauenstein also reached double-digits with 10 kills on .290 hitting and had one of the team’s five aces. The aces were a team effort as Ava Falduto, Alexis Stucky, Gabrielle Nichols, and Haley Burgdorf contributed one apiece.
Stucky tallied 34 assists as Penn State hit .322 in the win. She eclipsed 4,000 career assists during the match, reaching the milestone with her final assist of the second set. It came on a kill by Lauenstein. Stucky’s career number is now 4,014, including 967 assists this season.
Penn State continued its use of two liberos and both played well. Falduto finished with eight digs, while Jocelyn Nathan was right behind her with seven. Nichols led the defense at the net with five blocks in addition to her five kills.
Kristina Starostenko had a strong match for the Illini, hitting .533 with nine kills and two blocks.
Penn State improved to 54-13 in the all-time series with Illinois, including a 5-1 mark under Katie Schumacher-Cawley.
Set 1
Penn State held Illinois to -.059 hitting as it rolled to a 25-13 win in set one. Lauenstein led the Nittany Lions attack with three kills and tacked on one ace. Martin played well defensively with three digs and three blocks. Penn State used a 4-0 run to take an early 5-1 lead. The run was started with a kill by Stucky and continued with three straight Illinois attack errors. The Nittany Lions went up by double-digits for the first time in the set at 21-11. The final point was later scored on a kill by Northern.
Set 2
Martin hit .429 with seven kills to lead Penn State to a 25-20 win in set two. Stucky had 14 assists, the last of which was the 4,000th of her career. Penn State trailed by two at the media timeout but came out of the break with a 4-0 run to go up 17-15. Martin started the run with a kill, Sellman followed with a pair of kills, and Stucky finished it with a solo block. The Nittany Lions later used a 3-0 run to take a 23-19 lead. Martin started and ended that run with kills. Following a service error, the Nittany Lions scored the last two points of the set on a kill by Lauenstein and an Illinois attack error.
Set 3
Martin put up identical offensive numbers as the previous set, hitting .429 with seven kills as Penn State finished the sweep with a 25-21 win in set three. The Nittany Lions started fast with a 5-1 advantage, scoring in multiple ways with a pair of blocks, an ace by Falduto, and kills by Stucky and Lauenstein. Illinois fought back and eventually took a 20-18 lead after a 4-0 run. That lead was short-lived as the Nittany Lions responded with a 6-0 run to go up 24-20. Stucky took over during that stretch with three kills. The Illini stopped the first chance at set point, but Nichols followed with a kill to end the match.
Up Next
Penn State wraps up the regular season when it hosts Rutgers on Tuesday at Rec Hall. The Scarlet Knights are 13-15 overall and 4-12 in the Big Ten following a 3-2 win over Maryland in their most recent match.
The 2026 Penn State women’s volleyball season is presented by Musselman’s.