In the football world, everyone loves Iowa Hate Week. The week leading up to that game is met with loads of tension built up between the two teams and fan bases. In the volleyball world, Nebraska’s “Iowa” has been Penn State lately. Penn State has kind of become the transfer destination for girls that have decided to leave Nebraska in recent years. These girls were not fans of former Head Coach John Cook too so their hate for Nebraska has kind of been hard to hide.
After the first weekend of conference
play, Nebraska. along with Washington, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, are all tied at 2-0. The Huskers swept both Rutgers and Ohio State with Andi Jackson having a big weekend. This led her to winning B1G Player of the Week and also AVCA Player of the Week. Jackson averaged 3.33 kills/set and hit .578% on 45 swings. She also recorded 14 blocks and averaged 1.56 blocks/set.
Penn State Nittany Lions
2025 Record: 19-13
2025 Conference Record: 12-8 (B1G)
Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2025 (Lost to Texas in 2nd Round)
Penn State has a long legacy of being one of the most decorated programs in the NCAA with 10 National Championships won. The last one came in 2024 when they beat Louisville in the finals. They reverse swept Nebraska in the semis to make it to that title game too.
Penn State has now kind of became the land of the Nebraska defects. Maggie Mendelson and Caroline Jurevicius joined the team after the 2023 season then Whitney Lauenstein, who somehow still has eligibility, joined this season. Watching these girls transfer wasn’t the issue, but it was how it happened.
Jurevicius had an article done about her, and her family, by The Athletic about how she is excited to grow at Nebraska and what it was like redshirting. Shortly after this came out, she transferred. It just didn’t seem right in my eyes, and a lot of other fans eyes, when this happened. Her, and Maggie Mendelson, also made a joke about selling their 2023 B1G Conference Title rings on TikTok after transferring too. It has been deleted, but this also didn’t sit right with people.
Whitney Lauenstein left Nebraska, after just two seasons, in 2022. Some Husker fans still love her, but some don’t really care for her. I have to be with the crew that doesn’t care for her. Her reasoning seemed kind of fishy when she left, but Husker fans supported her in hopes that she’d come back. She’s also a Nebraska native.
This kind of turned upside down when she got mad that Merritt Beason was signed days after she announced her departure. You can’t blame John Cook in this situation because we needed an OPP desperately after this. He couldn’t wait because then the best players available in the portal would be gone. This angered Lauenstein though as she went on to rant in a volleyball Facebook group about it and about John Cook in general.
It later came out that Lauenstein was pregnant most of the 2022 season and had been playing through it as best she could. After having her daughter, she transferred to our biggest rival: Texas. She didn’t get a lot of playing time there in her 2 seasons so she transferred to Penn State for her last season where she is one of their strongest players.
Along with the signing of Lauenstein, Penn State also signed powerhouse players Alexis Stucky, from Florida, and Ryla Jones, from Pitt. They were feeling good about the team they put together after only going 19-13 last season. Instead, we’re a week into conference play and they lost to Michigan State and also benched Stucky and Kennedy Martin during that match. They also still seem to have consistency and passing issues like they did last year.
They still have a stacked roster though and the Huskers know that. I don’t think they expect to win a set 25-8 this time around like last season. Penn State will definitely make it a match this season plus the match is in Happy Valley too.
Senior OPP Kennedy Martin transferred to Penn State last season, after playing 2 seasons at Florida, and quickly became the top player on the team. Martin leads the team with 160 kills and is averaging a crazy 4.00 kills/set. She is also one of the top blockers on the team with 31. The Huskers will have to shut Martin down the same way they did last year or her fire power will kill us all on its own.
Redshirt Senior Setter Alexis Stucky came from Florida, just like Martin, but transferred for the 2026 season. Stucky is widely considered one of the best setters in the country and should be up for Setter of the Year come end of the season awards. Stucky averages 9.53 assists/set while Nebraska’s Bergen Reilly averages over 1.0 more assists with 10.78 assists/set.
While Whitney Lauenstein was an OPP at Nebraska, she is listed as an OH at Penn State this season. Since Martin is the starting OPP, Lauenstein is one of their starting OH’s this season and has quickly become a Penn State favorite. She is 2nd on the team in kills with 107 and is averaging 2.97 kills/set.
Penn State has also had some freshman step up this season with OH’s Haley Burgdorf and Finley Krystkowiak getting valuable game minutes already. With the addition of Lauenstein this season, this put Caroline Jurevicius on the bench for the majority of the season so far, only playing in 12 of the 43 sets played.
Thursday’s match will begin at 6:00pm CST in Rec Hall at Penn State. The match will be televised on B1G Network.
#1 Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-0, B1G 2-0)
#1 Keri Leimbach 5’4” SO DS/L
#2 Bergen Reilly 6’1” SR Setter
#3 Virginia Adriano 6’5” SO OPP
#4 Campbell Flynn 6’3” SO Setter
#6 Laney Choboy 5’3” SR DS/L
#8 Kenna Cogill 6’4” SO MB
#10 Olivia Mauch 5’6” JR DS/L
#11 Teraya Sigler 6’3” SO OH
#14 Manaia Ogbechie 6’3” SO MB
#15 Andi Jackson 6’3” SR MB
#17 Keoni Williams 6’4” FR MB
#18 Ryan Hunter 6’2” SO OPP
#20 Jayden Robinson 6’3” FR OH
#21 Skyler Pierce 6’2” JR OH
#23 Gabby DiVita 6’1” FR OH
#27 Harper Murray 6’2” SR OH
Penn State Nittany Lions (9-3, B1G 1-1)
#1 Kendall Northern 6’1” FR MB
#2 Ava Falduto 5’7” JR DS/L
#3 Danielle Whitmire 6’2” FR Setter
#5 Alexis Stucky 6’2” RS-SR Setter
#7 Ryla Jones 6’2” JR MB
#8 Gabrielle Nichols 6’2” SO MB
#9 Lexi Gin 5’6” SO DS/L
#10 Ava Jurevicius 5’9” SO DS/L
#11 Jocelyn Nathan 5’6” SR DS/L
#13 Emmi Sellman 6’4” JR OH
#14 Caroline Jurevicius 6’2” RS-JR OH/OPP
#18 Kennedy Martin 6’6” SR OPP
#23 Haley Burgdorf 6’0” FR OH
#26 Whitney Lauenstein 6’2” 5th Year OH
#27 Alexis Ewing 6’4” SO OH
#42 Finley Krystkowiak 6’4” FR OH
