Penn State Volleyball Under Fire as Fans Question Defending Champions’ Chances for NCAA Title Two-Peat

When Penn State volleyball fell to the much lower-ranked Arizona State on Sunday, the Nittany Lions’ 14-game winning streak finally came to an end. But that was only half of the fans’ worries. When the Penn State loyalists had hoped to see the team defend the NCAA title, Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s girls instead have looked shaky at best in their last three games. The latest blow to the gut, naturally, has the fans wailing.

On Monday, the Nittany Lions fell to No. 24 TCU in five sets at the PPG Paints Arena. The Horned Frogs stunned the No. 5 Penn State volleyball, halting the reigning champs’ reverse sweep attempts. The official Penn State Women’s Volleyball X account shared the match result on September 1 with a frowning caption that read, “Comeback fell short tonight.” TCU bagged the first two sets before Penn State won the next two to push things into a fifth set, where the Horned Frogs retained their calm better than their opponents.

Penn State volleyball lost the match 19-25, 15-25, 25-20, 25-19, and 12-15. After Sunday’s loss to Arizona, head coach Schumacher-Cawley claimed that the defeat was crucial to help the players get the “reigning champ” pressure off them. Well, it’s now safe to say that TCU only aided the Nittany Lions’ boss in her wishes of playing the season without the looming cloud of a two-peat hanging overhead.

Despite Kennedy Martin posting 21 kills for Penn State, TCU held its ground just as good. In the first set itself, with the help of libero Alice Volpe’s back-to-back aces (which also helped the team secure a thunderous 6-0 run), the Horned Frogs gained a quick lead. Outside hitter Evan Hendrix added to Penn State’s problems, who scurried to find an answer with Alexis Ewing, while trailing 18-8. Kennedy Martin and Caroline Jurevicius worked hard for the Nittany Lions, but all that effort still went in vain.

The momentum had shifted, and TCU hardly had to look back for the rest of the night. The Horned Frogs had 13 aces, Hendrix and Becca Kelley recorded 14 and 13 kills, respectively, and Schumacher-Cawley didn’t hesitate to acknowledge that the Nittany Lions’ serve-receive between the second and third sets was probably the worst part of the night. “I think they were moving the ball well. They were dropping them short, going deep. I thought they had a great game plan with that,” the Penn State volleyball head coach tilted her hat to the winners of the night. “We weren’t passing well in the first two sets, and I think we made way too many errors and they capitalized on it,” she added on what went wrong for her team on Monday.

Naturally, the shambolic display on the court wasn’t something the Penn State volleyball fans were hoping to see, especially so early into the title defense season. At the AVCA First Serve last week, the Nittany Lions’ poor condition was exposed when they had to fight tooth and nail against Kansas. Today’s loss, after the defeat to the Sun Devils, obviously hit hard. “Penn state may never win again,” one fan sounded the alarm.

Others chimed in as well.

Fans slam Penn State volleyball for its shaky form

The last time the Nittany Lions were down by two sets was against the Nebraska Huskers at the Final Four of the 2024 NCAA Championship. On that occasion, Penn State managed to rally from behind. But tonight, it was a whole different scenario. With the loss to the Sun Devils just a day before, you’d expect to see the champs fighting hard to get out of their slump, but instead, Schumacher-Cawley’s girls showed that they pretty much deserve getting dropped to No. 5 in the AVCA rankings. The fans weren’t pleased.

“PSU drops out of the top 15 this next week,” grunted one fan, who claimed that Martin alone won’t be able to help the team to its second-straight national title. “Kennedy is the only offensive threat. Go to the bench to find some help,” another fan urged Schumacher-Cawley, suggesting that #8 Gabby Nichols should get more play time.

“Nobody wants to be in a fifth set with Penn State,” Caroline Jurevicius said just before the final set, with the motivation to keep the morale high among her teammates. But as it turned out, TCU was the team that made the fifth set their own with some exquisite volleyball skills. Referring to what transpired despite Jurevicius’ statement, one fan sneered, “I was told by a certain someone that you don’t wanna play a fifth set against Penn state.”

What do you reckon went badly tonight for Penn State volleyball? Katie & Co. will take on Kentucky at home on Friday, and then clash against New Hampshire two days later. Do you believe the Nittany Lions can bounce back?