The Nittany Lions 2025 season ends in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament vs. #1 Texas. The Nittany Lions were led by Kennedy Martin (16 pts, 16 kills), Caroline Jurevicius (7 pts, 7 kills) and Emmi Sellman (6 pts, 5 kills, 2 blocks).
It is not often that the defending national champions fall in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. However, this season was mired with challenges for the Nittany Lions. The Lions were faced with a near-unstoppable offensive effort from the Longhorns both the block and floor defense struggled to keep up with the 3 headed beast made up of Torrey Stafford, Macaria Spears and Abby Vander Wal who combined for 40 kills and an average of 0.500 hitting percentage. The Nittany Lions were on the back foot each set as the Nittany Lions offense also struggled to make headway as they only hit a combined 0.124 hitting percentage. Kennedy Martin led the team with 16 kills but it was not enough to push the Longhorn defense as Texas outblock and outdug Penn State. Caroline Jurevicius and Emmi Sellman were the only other hitters who managed to hit in the positive percentages – both middles struggled with their connection and hit a combined -0.052. Texas also played an overall cleaner game – the Lions committed 12 unforced hitting errors and 8 service errors to the Longhorns 3 unforced hitting errors and 5 service errors.
The Nittany Lions end their 2025 season at the second round of the NCAA for the 4th time (last time was the 2020 season). They end with a record of 19-13 record with standout wins against Wisconsin, USC, Kansas and Creighton.
Post-Match Press Conference
After the match, Coach Katie, Kennedy Martin, and Gillian Grimes answered questions from the media. Below is a transcript of the questions and answers, lightly edited for length and clarity.
Opening Statement by Coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley.
I thought there was a great atmosphere, and I thank everyone here in Texas for their hospitality, and I wish them well moving forward, I’m proud of my seniors. I’m proud of this team, and I think the returners know that they need to get to work.
Question: We were talking to Jerritt (Elliott) about the challenges of defending a championship. Now that you can look back on it a bit, what is the hardest part defending that crown, especially with what you guys went through?
Coach Katie: Yeah, I think it’s hard to win, and the sport’s so competitive, and there’s a lot of great teams and great players out there, and I think we put forth our best effort. I know we’ll be better in the spring and moving forward, but it’s hard to win. This is a great sport, and like I said there’s a lot of really good teams out there.
Question: Gill, what were some of the things that Texas did well, especially in that second set?
Gillian Grimes: Yeah, I think they serve the ball really well. Got us out of system a lot, and then that their hitters were always ready.
Question: How tough is it in an environment like this, on the road to try and maintain when they’re applying so much pressure?
Coach Katie: I mean, I thought the atmosphere was amazing. It’s similar to Rec Hall for us, and if you can’t get excited to play an environment like that. You have no business here. But no, the crowd was great. You know, we made a ton of errors, and Texas is a great team. And, yeah, we made a ton of errors and didn’t help ourselves.
Question: Katie, they have a very talented, freshman class with Abby (Vander Wal) and Cari (Spears) and everything with that on top of Torrey (Stafford) transferring in. How tough is that? Do you feel like y’all were on your heels a lot, just because they
Coach Katie: You saw the scores, right? (laughs) We were definitely on our heels. Like I said they played exceptional. We made a lot of unforced errors, and couldn’t help ourselves. It’s a great learning experience for the players that will be returning. And you know, Texas is great team. I thought they they all played well and did their job.
Question: Kennedy, what made them such a tough matchup up front?
Kennedy Martin: I just think they’re coming at you from all angles. I think they got some really good middles, too. Joe, who do a really good job of giving their offense chances to score, and then I think their hitters did a good job.
Question: Gill, how would you describe this journey of the last four years for you and what some things are gonna stand out?
Coach Katie: Gill’s had a great career. I’m proud of Gill. She’s she’s played for me in every match. She’s gonna play pro. Earn some money.
Gillian Grimes: I just love this program and love these girls. I mean, Thank you, Coach Katie, for everything taking me under your wing. Forever, forever grateful.
Question: So what do you tell Kennedy and the ladies coming back? You know? What do you take from a tough loss?
Gillian Grimes: Stay Hungry. They’ve got the tools. Kennedy needs that championship, she needs that ring, so she’ll get there. They’ll work hard and they’ll do it,
Question: Kennedy, could you kind of dissect the second set a little bit when. They went on that run of 11 points in a row. Was it like, Okay, we just couldn’t break through.
Kennedy Martin: Yeah. I think serve and pass is a very important part of the game. They had really consistent and good servers. And we just didn’t help ourselves with the unforced errors.
Question: Kennedy, What are some things you’ve enjoyed most about here first season at Penn State
Kennedy Martin: The community. I think fans are great and the girls are great, and I’m a big people person so surrounding myself with great people is something I was looking forward to doing.
Question: What’s it been like being around Coach Katie so often?
Kennedy Martin: Katie is in the gym every day, she’s she does a really good job of being really tough on us and setting the standard really high, but also like getting to know you and being there for you. And I feel like she has the right to hold us to that standard, because she knows people, and she knows what we’re getting more.
Question: Katie, you’re talking about sport. You know, how competitive it is and growing. You’ve been around for a while. So when you see new programs coming up, is it just, is parity a part of it? Do you think we’re going to see different teams.
Kennedy Martin: Yeah, top 25, top 30 teams, all the teams were flipping around. It’s going to be an exciting next couple weeks of a tournament. So yeah, I mean, there’s just a lot more people playing, lot of good teams, lot of good coaches, and it’s great support.
Question: You have a few NFL daughters on your team. Is there a special concept, competitive fire you see because they grew up with NFL dads and NBA dads?
Coach Katie: Yeah, I think, you know, we have quite a few players that have NBA, NFL dads. And yeah, their parents push them dads especially, to be great. And it’s fun to see dads in a little different seat, cheering for the girls. And we have some pro leagues now too, so it’s exciting.
Question: Gill, what kind of advice do you have for Ava (Falduto) if she ends up taking your job (as libero) next year?
Gillian Grimes: She’ll be great. She’s ready for it. She’s been competing with me every single day in practice, so I know she’s ready. She’ll be awesome.
Question: Gill, you’ll be moving on to pro after this. Can you kind of speak about how you’re going to use what you learned at Penn State in your career as pro?
Gillian Grimes: Yeah, I’m going to use it all. They’ve taught me so much, but also going, I’ll be under another head coach that was alumni of Penn State (Alisha Glass), so I think they’re kind of similar, and I’m really excited for that. But, yeah, Coach Katie’s just told us to never take anything for granted, really. And I think I’m just excited to play with new people and kind of bring my Penn State side to this new team, San Diego Mojo.