Mapping the Team — Where Penn State’s Players (and Verbals) Are From

Map Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The States of Penn State: CA, CO, FL, IL, KY, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, TX, VA, WI

Penn State Head Coach Russ Rose and his staff must rack up alot of frequent-flyer miles.  Penn State’s 16 current (or soon to be current) players (see 2012 Unofficial Roster, below, which includes 2012 signees who have yet to enroll) plus the six publicly announced verbal commitments (see Recruiting Matrix, below, which lists the players we are aware of who have publicly announced their verbal commitment to join the Penn State Women’s Volleyball team, and who aren’t yet eligible to sign a National Letter of Intent and, obviously, have yet to enroll) are from 14 different states, ranging from California (1 player) on the West Coast, to New Jersey (4 players), Virginia (1 player), North Carolina (1 player) and Florida (2 players) on the East Coast, with New York (1 player), Pennsylvania (3 players), Ohio (2 players), Kentucky (2 players), Illinois (1 player), Wisconsin (1 player), Oklahoma (1 player), Texas (1 player), and Colorado (1 player) in between.  The map above shows the total number of players and/or verbals from each state (the map colors don’t signify anything other than the need to have different colors so that the state borders would be clear).

That’s alot of airports and rental cars, but we’re glad the staff puts in the hard work — the results speak for themselves.

A Little Traveling Music

So, in honor of all that traveling, we’ve included the video below, which really has absolutely nothing to do with volleyball or recruiting (we’re not even sure where it was filmed).  But we liked the images, and it is about traveling, so there you go.

 

2012 Roster (Unofficial)

NumberNamePositionYear/
Class
HeightHS
(Club)
State
01

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Scott,
Ariel

Opp/MH3/Jr.6-04Immaculate
Heart
Academy
(Team Complete
Athlete)
NJ
02

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Caraway,
Lara

DS/L1/Fr.5-04Evans City
(Renaissance)
PA
03

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Pierce,
Kendall

DS/L1/Fr.5-06Eden
(Niagara Frontier
Volleyball
)
NY
04

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Gonzalez,
Dominique

L2/So.5-06Sandra Day
O'Connor/
(Alamo Volleyball)
TX
05

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Carpenter,
Kristin

DS/L/S4/Sr.5-06Hanover
(Richmond Volleyball Club)
VA
06

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Martin,
Maddie

OH3/Jr.6-02H.B. Plant
(Tampa Bay
Juniors)
FL
07

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Grant,
Nia

MH/OH2/So.6-02Howland
(Cleveland Renaissance
Volleyball
Club)
OH
08

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Denney,
Erica

MH2/RS So. 6-05Grandview
(Front Range
Volleyball Club
)
CO
09

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Prieto Cerame,
Paulina


OH/Opp1/Fr.6-02Palmer
Trinity
(Boomers
Volleyball
)
FL
10

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Racibarskas,
Marika

S4/Sr.6-00Chatham
(Team Complete
Athlete)
NJ
12

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Hancock,
Micha

S2/So.5-11Edmond
Memorial
(Oklahoma Peak Performance)
OK
14

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Whitney,
Aiyana

OH/Opp/MH2/So.6-03Northern Valley
Regional
(Downstate Juniors)
NJ
15

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Harding,
Maggie

DS2/RS So. 5-06State College
Area
PA
16

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Slay,
Katie


MH3/Jr.6-06Wakefield
(Triangle Volleyball
Club
)
NC
17

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Courtney,
Megan

OH/S1/Fr.6-02Archbishop Alter
(Team Z)
OH
18

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
McClendon,
Deja

OH3/Jr.6-01Dupont Manual Magnet
(KIVA)
KY
33

Player
Profile
w/Season
Recap
Fuller,
Lacey

DS/L2/So.5-06Torrey Pines
(Coast
Volleyball
)
CA

Updated as of 8-15-2025

Recruiting Matrix

The verbal commitments in the Recruiting Matrix are listed alphabetically, by year.  The listed positions are from published reports, and do not necessarily reflect the positions they will play in college.  There are links to their public announcements of their verbal commitments, links (by year) to background information about each of them, links to their High School web pages, and links to their home towns.

The table is sortable by clicking on the arrows at the top of each column.  We last updated this table on April 25, 2012.

PlayerYear HtPos.High School/
Club
State
(Town)
Status
Burgdorf,
Haley
20266-00OHSt. Charles North/
Sports Performance VBC
IL
(St. Charles)
Signed
Krystkowiak,
Finley
20266-04OHTorrey Pines/
Wave Volleyball Club
CA
(Encinitas)
Signed
Northern,
Kendall
20266-01MB/RSSummit Country Day School/
Elevation VBC
OH/
(Cincinnati)
Signed
Whitmire,
Danielle
20266-02SWalnut Grove High School/
Texas Advantage VBC
TX
(Celina)
Signed
Jones,
Ryla
Transfer from
Pittsburgh for 2026
(Class of 2024)
6-02MBFlint Hill High School/
MetroVBC of DC
MD
(Oxon Hill)
Signed
Lauenstein,
Whitney
Transfer from
Texas for 2026
(Class of 2021)
6-02OH/RSWaverly High School/
VC Nebraska
NE
(Waverly)
Signed
Stucky,
Alexis
Transfer from
Florida for 2026
(Class of 2022)
6-02SLaramie HSWY
(Laramie)
Signed
Crooks,
Nejari
20276-01RSWesleyan Christian Academy/
Triad Elite Volleyball Club
NC
(High Point)
Verbal
Harrington,
Taylor
20276-03MBWakefield High School/
Paramount Volleyball Club
VA
(Arlington)
Verbal
Henry,
Olivia
20276-04OHIMG AcademyNY
(Bayside)
Verbal
Robertson,
Molly
20275-10SNorth AlleghenyPA
(Wexford)
Verbal

Recruiting Matrix as of 12-24-2025

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