Marin Collins Commits To Penn State Volleyball

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

Penn State women’s volleyball began its 2025 recruiting class with a verbal commitment from 6-foot-4 outside hitter Marin Collins of Hamburg, New York, Sunday afternoon.

“I am so excited and proud to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and volleyball career at Penn State,” Collins wrote on Instagram. “This is a dream come true, and I couldn’t have done it without the help of my teammates and coaches.”

Collins, a rising junior at Frontier Central High School, located in the suburbs of Buffalo, attended Penn State’s 7 Star Camp the last two years. A week ago at Rec Hall, Collins had a chance to play with 2024 Penn State commits Izzy Starck and Ava Falduto and was one of the standout performers.

Collins, Starck, and Falduto are regular invitees to USA volleyball’s NTDP training series events, showcasing their skills among the nation’s best youth volleyball players. This summer’s event will take place July 12-17 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Collins represents Niagara Frontier Volleyball on the club circuit and is one of the first few 2025 prospects to announce her verbal commitment since the beginning of permitted contact between college coaches and recruits from her cycle on June 15. Her club coach is Anna King, cousin of Penn State volleyball alumnae (and former team captains) Kendall and Lainy Pierce.

Collins hails from the same area of New York as Penn State assistant coach Dan Gwitt, who attended Eden High School before playing volleyball for the Nittany Lions. Gwitt is entering his second season on Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s coaching staff.

Collins’ commitment gives the Nittany Lions an outside hitter with significant upside to begin building their 2025 recruiting class around. It will be interesting to see which prospects decide to join her in Penn State’s class moving forward.

Like Falduto and Starck, who committed to the Nittany Lions on June 19 and 21, 2022, respectively, Collins picked Penn State the summer before her junior season. Collins can now shift her focus toward improving her game and serving as a peer recruiter to help Penn State’s staff land more talented prospects.

Collins already has quite an impressive frame midway through her high school career, as freshman Karis Willow is the only player on Penn State’s 2023 roster as tall as Collins. She will continue to refine her skill set thanks to advice from her club and high school coaches, as well as Penn State’s staff, which spent ample time chatting with Collins at last Sunday’s camp.

Collins looks fluid as an athlete and can hit from all over the court. She also appears to have a fairly soft touch as a passer. Collins played up a level with Niagara Frontier’s 17 Navy team this spring. In the video below, Collins is wearing No. 4: