Penn State released its 2018 schedule, which will mark head coach Russ Rose‘s 40th season at the helm of the Nittany Lions. Last season, Penn State lost in a five-set thriller to eventual champion Nebraska in the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
The upcoming schedule features three matches against 2017 NCAA Semifinalists (one at Stanford and home-and-away contests against Nebraska), and eight total tilts against teams advancing as far as the Sweet 16 in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
Penn State starts the 2018 campaign with back-to-back home tournaments before going on the road for much of September. Their lone home match during the month is on Sept. 1 against Texas A&M.
After the graduations of All-Americans Simone Lee, Haleigh Washington, Alli Frantti and Abby Detering, the Nittany Lions return just seven players from last year’s side, including libero Kendall White, setter Bryanna Weiskircher, opposite Nia Reed and middle Tori Gorrell.
Full 2018 Schedule
Penn State Invitational (University Park, Pennsylvania)
- Aug. 24 vs. Eastern Kentucky
- Aug. 25 vs. UMBC
- Aug. 25 vs. Navy
Penn State Classic (University Park, Pennsylvania)
- Aug. 31 vs. Temple
- Sept. 1 vs. Texas A&M
Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge (Stanford, California)
- Sept. 7 vs. Stanford*
- Sept. 8 vs. Oregon
Remaining Non-Conference
- Sept. 14 vs. Howard (@Howard in Washington D.C.)
- Sept. 15 vs. Buffalo (@American in Washington D.C.)
- Sept. 15 vs. American (@ American in Washington D.C.)
Big Ten Regular Season Schedule
- Sept. 19 vs. Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minn.)*
- Sept. 22 vs. Ohio State (Columbus, Ohio)
- Sept. 28 vs. Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.)*
- Sept. 29 vs. Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
- Oct. 5 vs. Maryland (University Park, Penn.)
- Oct. 6 vs. Ohio State (University Park, Penn.)
- Oct. 10 vs. Purdue (West Lafayette, Indiana)
- Oct. 13 vs. Nebraska (University Park, Penn.)*
- Oct. 17 vs. Rutgers (University Park, Penn.)
- Oct. 20 vs. Rutgers (Piscataway, N.J.)
- Oct. 26 vs. Indiana (University Park, Penn.)
- Oct. 27 vs. Purdue (University Park, Penn.)
- Nov. 2 vs. Nebraska (Lincoln, Neb.)*
- Nov. 3 vs. Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa)
- Nov. 9 vs. Northwestern (Evanston, Ill.)
- Nov. 10 vs. Illinois (Champaign, Ill.)*
- Nov. 14 vs. Michigan (University Park, Penn.)
- Nov. 17 vs. Northwestern (University Park, Penn.)
- Nov. 23 vs. Minnesota (University Park, Penn.)*
- Nov. 24 vs. Wisconsin (University Park, Penn.)*
*Denotes match against 2017 Sweet Sixteen team
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