Kennedy Martin is giving Penn State exactly what it needs at the right time.
As the Nittany Lions work through a pivotal Big Ten run, the senior right side has ramped up her game again, and that surge helped push Penn State to a 2-0 weekend and a three-match winning streak. After beating Oregon 3-1 at Rec Hall on Friday, Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s team followed with a four-set win over Indiana in Bloomington to move to 15-5 overall and 7-3 in Big Ten play, good for a tie for fourth in the conference. Penn State also climbed to No. 13 in this week’s AVCA poll, one spot behind Oregon.
Martin was the headline act in Bloomington and, on Monday, she was rewarded with AVCA National Player of the Week honors for the second time in her career.
Kennedy Martin named AVCA National Player of the Week
Kennedy Martin of @PennStateVBall is the AVCA Division I WVB Player of the Week.
Martin lit it up last week-averaging 5.75 kills per set and 6.56 points per set-to help Penn State earn key Big Ten wins over No. 10 Oregon and No. 18 Indiana. https://t.co/Z24ZsJlTd0 #WeAreAVCA pic.twitter.com/Ja1XljdeU2
- AVCA (@AVCAVolleyball) October 27, 2026
Her résumé already tells the story. Martin earned her first AVCA Player of the Week recognition last October, then went on to collect her second first-team AVCA All-American nod. She was also a semifinalist for the AVCA Division I Player of the Year award last season, when she set Penn State program records for single-season points with 728, kills, points per set, and kills per set.
This season, the production has kept rolling. Martin leads the Big Ten with 69 kills in conference matches, and last week she posted 5.75 kills per set and 6.56 points per set while hitting .465 across the two wins.
That number jumps off the page against ranked competition. Oregon has limited opponents to a .201 hitting percentage this year, which ranks No. 7 in the Big Ten, but Martin powered Penn State to a .346 team hitting percentage with a 25-kill performance on 51 swings and just three errors.
Indiana was even better as a team opportunity for Penn State’s offense. The Hoosiers enter more on the offensive side of the ledger, ranking No. 15 in the Big Ten in opponent hitting percentage at .232, and Penn State made the most of it by hitting .376 at Wilkinson Hall. Martin finished with 21 kills on only 35 swings, again with just three errors, to hit .514.
The offense hasn’t been a one-player show either. Setter Alexis Stucky, who transferred from Florida a year after Martin, had 45 assists in each of the last two matches. Penn State’s team hitting percentage sits at .265, which is No. 8 in the Big Ten, but that number has been moving in the right direction.
That matters because the schedule is tightening.
Penn State has seven matches left in the 2026 regular season, and only three of them will be in Happy Valley. The next two are at home this week, with Ohio State coming to town Thursday and No.
11 Purdue following on Saturday for senior night and the White Out match. After that, the Nittany Lions will be on the road for four of their final five matches, with trips to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Illinois.
None of those four opponents are currently ranked in the top 25, but the travel alone makes the closing stretch tricky. Penn State can’t afford to stumble at home if it wants to stay in the thick of a Big Ten race that remains packed behind Nebraska, the No. 1 team in the country at .332 hitting percentage.
For now, Penn State has momentum, a favorable path on paper, and Martin playing like the conference’s most dangerous weapon.
In Other News...
Penn State May Have Finally Fixed One Defensive Problem
Penn State has spent much of the season sorting out its defensive personnel, and the latest move is another sign that the staff is still searching for the right mix. Head coach Matt Campbell said Marcus Neal Jr. has shifted from safety to off-ball linebacker, a move designed to add depth to a group that has been thinned by injuries and uneven play. At the same time, Zion Tracy has been moved back to safety to help steady that spot.
It is the kind of midseason adjustment that can tell you a lot about where a defense stands. The Nittany Lions have continued to tinker with roles as they try to patch together a more reliable structure, and these changes suggest the staff believes the answer may be less about adding bodies than putting the right ones in the right places. Whether the new alignment holds is the next question, but Penn State at least appears to be taking a more direct swing at one of its lingering issues. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Gets An Early Heavyweight Test Cael Sanderson Needed
Penn State will get a November measuring stick at Rec Hall, where the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic lands on Nov. 24 and gives Cael Sanderson an early look at how his lineup stacks up. The Nittany Lions are bringing plenty of firepower to the exhibition, with NCAA champion Josh Barr joined by national runners-up Shayne Van Ness and Rocco Welsh, a group that should draw plenty of attention before the regular season really settles in.
The bigger intrigue, though, may come at heavyweight, where Connor Mirasola is set to meet Wisconsins Braxton Amos in a matchup that gives Sanderson a clearer read on one of the lineups most important spots. Early-season exhibitions do not settle much on their own, but this one should offer Penn State a useful snapshot of where the roster is already sharp and where the coach still needs answers. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Finally Gets Linebacker Help Before A Suddenly Crucial Test
Penn State is shoring up the middle of its defense at just the right time, with Iowa State transfer Marcus Neal, Jr. moving from safety to linebacker to help ease the strain on a unit that has been stretched thin. Head coach Matt Campbell confirmed the switch, and it comes as the Nittany Lions continue leaning heavily on a linebacker group that has been built around only three main contributors.
Help is also on the way in the form of backup Cam Smith, who is expected to return after missing five games with an injury. The timing matters because Penn State is heading into a suddenly important test, and any added depth at linebacker could go a long way toward keeping the defense steady if the snaps start piling up again. [Read more 🡒]