The Nittany Lions won their first official match with a 3-0 victory over the University of Connecticut Huskies in the Penn State Invitational. Whitney Lauenstein (10k, 6 digs, 0.384 hitting efficiency) and Kennedy Martin (7k, 6 digs, 3 blocks) led the team in scoring with 10 and 8.5 points respectively.
Penn State officially kicked off their season with a strong performance against the Big East’s UConn. After a 2025 season filled with trials, the Nittany Lions showed that they’ve reloaded and they’re ready to compete. Coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley showed that there is depth to this team as fifteen different players had playing time. Texas transfer Whitney Lauenstein, in her first match in the Blue and White, led the team with 10 kills (0.364 hitting efficiency) and is here to show that she still hits big! She also added 6 digs to the defensive effort. Senior Kennedy Martin, back for her second year as a Nittany Lion, contributed 7 kills (0.400 hitting efficiency) and flaunted her improved defense with 6 digs and 3 blocks.
Also having their debut matches as Nittany Lions were setter Alexis Stucky and Ryla Jones. Stucky distributed the ball well and had 27 assists and a team hitting percentage of 0.374. But she isn’t only there to set the ball Stucky also had 6 kills (0.750 hitting percentage), a tied team high 9 digs and a block. Jones pitched in 2 kills (0.500 hitting percentage) and 1 block showing her connection with Stucky is strong despite only having a limited amount of time to play together. Ava Falduto, now wearing the libero Jersey following Gillian Grimes’ graduation, led the team with 9 digs.
Coach Schumacher-Cawley also showed that the future of the Nittany Lions is bright by giving all four freshmen playing time. The charge was led by Haley Burgdorf, who started the match and pitched in 6 kills (0.364 hitting percentage), 1 ace, and 1 block. Finley Krystkowiak and Kendall Northern saw extended playing time in the 3rd set and contributed 3 kills each. Danielle Whitmire showed that she is ready after recovering from an injury during her senior year of high school by setting up 5 assists.
The Nittany Lions led the Huskies in kills (42-27), digs (44-32), blocks (6-4) and had fewer errors (19-26). The only area where the Nittany Lions lagged was in aces (4-6). This shows that the Lions will need to focus on their serve receive and service pressure as the season goes on.
The Nittany Lions will play the rest of their matches of the Penn State invitational tomorrow vs. High Point (10 am EDT) and vs. Hofstra (6 PM EDT) in Rec Hall.
Post-Match Press Conference
After the match, Coach Katie, Whitney Lauenstein, and Haley Burgdorf 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 just want to say thanks to the all the students and our marketing people, it was a great crowd tonight. It’s always nice to win. It’s hard to win and I thought we did a nice job and I think these two played great tonight and collectively as a team we did some nice things.
Question: Coach, what do you think your biggest step was from the game against SMU (in the Spikes Under the Lights exhibition)?
Coach Katie: I think we played a lot better than we did on Thursday and I think that we were a little bit more settled in. I thought we passed much better and I think everyone kind of just did their job tonight.
Question: For the players, your first time playing in front of this Rec Hall crowd, what did you think of the experience and what do you think of them?
Whitney Lauenstein: I think they bring a lot of energy. It’s a lot of fun. I’d love to see them at 10am tomorrow. We’ll see how many show up. But it’s definitely fun to be on the same side as them and same team as them. I played against them, but it feels good to be with them rooting for you this time.
Haley Burgdorf: Yeah, it’s definitely amazing. I was here when we played Nebraska at the Big Ten match and that was even a great crowd. But this for our home opener, it was like really amazing and it’s going to be very memorable as a first match to play in.
Question: Whitney, you and Haley seem to be pretty close. What impresses you about her play so far?
Whitney Lauenstein: You know, I think that she has a real high swing. She jumps. She may be on the shorter side, but she’s going to tool your hands and break a finger or two maybe. I know she’s got Stuckey a few times down the line and I think that she’s a well rounded player. She’s really good at defense. She’s always somewhere in the back row sliding around and she’s a great passer as well. I can count on her when she’s passing next to me. I always tell her, be aggressive, take what you want. You can pass it. So I like how just versatile she is. She’s everywhere and I think that’s fun to see. Sometimes freshmen get really nervous and I don’t feel that when I pass next to her.
Question: What’s kind of been working for you in these first two games?
Whitney Lauenstein: I just think, like, team energy, like just the team energy has been really working well. I mean, I’ve never ran a fast offense before playing any of my years in college. It’s always been a high ball to the rafters and back. It’s kind of fun to switch it up my last year to run a little bit faster pace. I think my team’s energy really helps me just kind of get to those moments because when I turn around, see all of them, cheering me on and, like, chest bumping me, it just gets me so fired up. I love playing like that.
Question: Haley, Whitney just said no nerves from you. Was that because you’re really good at hiding it or you’re just a really calm person? And have you always been that way?
Haley Burgdorf: I think sometimes I’ll come out nervous, but I do try to hide it kind of well. But after a couple points, I’m ready to get after it and win the game. So just being calm and collected, I think is my strong suit and just relying on my other teammates that they got my back and I know I don’t have to get upset about an error or something.
Question: When did you find out you were going to be starting today?
Haley Burgdorf: Right before the match.
Coach Katie: In warm ups. That’s plenty of time (laughs). Five seconds before.
Question: And what was that experience like for you, getting to start in your first Penn State home match?
Haley Burgdorf: It was definitely amazing. I’m grateful for the opportunity to start and show what I can do on the court and know that I have my teammates back. I’ve been working at practice for this moment and it was just really exciting getting to know that I could start.
Question: Coach, what did Haley do to put herself in a position to do that today?
Coach Katie: I thought Haley had a great preseason and she competes hard and I thought she came in Dallas and did some nice things. She earned the starting spot for today, and I thought she handles herself really well and does a nice job.
Question: Talking about Dallas (Spikes Under the Lights), For the players, What do you guys kind of make of that experience playing in a venue like AT&T Stadium?
Whitney Lauenstein: I think it was a really cool experience just for women’s sports in general. Like to see how many fans were there and whether they were our fans or not I think that many people showed up for women’s volleyball and I think that was really cool. I think if they do it again, maybe a longer form a little bit more like a volleyball game would be really nice. I think it was a little chaotic to kind of calm our nerves a little bit, but I think it was fun. It was a cool experience and an exhibition match, so something to learn from. It took a lot of weight off our shoulders.
Haley Burgdorf: Yeah, I definitely agree. It was a really cool experience. Getting to play in the cowboys stadium and being in the middle of the field was a really cool experience. Even though the lighting wasn’t the best or like the warm ups wasn’t the best. I think we persevered really well with working with what we got and it was a good learning experience. Then we came out today and battled back.
Question: Coach, what kind of impact does it make to have a six rotation player like Haley?
Coach Katie: It’s nice. She has great skills and will continue to get better in our gym. She handles the ball well and finds ways to score and we’re definitely going to need that this season.
Question: Haley, can you take us through that back row attack at the end of the second set? What was going through head on that?
Haley Burgdorf: I love this type of tempo. I love a really fast tempo and if I can get in the air and get on Stuck (Alexis Stucky) like I know I can rip away after it and I just trust Stucky to set a really nice ball to me and yeah, felt amazing after I killed it.
Question: So what are some things you’ve learned from Whitney?
Haley Burgdorf: Her fiery personality. I’m a very cool and collected person and even my dad and past people have said you need to bring out some fiery expressions to yourself. So definitely Whit is a role model to with personality and just being really big out there.