No. 11 Penn State heads into Friday night with momentum, confidence, and a five-match winning streak after taking down then-No.
11 Purdue on Senior Night at Rec Hall. Now the Nittany Lions hit the road for the first of four straight away from home, and the next stop is a tough one: No.
19 Minnesota.
The match is set for Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. ET inside Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis, with coverage on Big Ten+. Penn State enters at 17-5 overall and 9-3 in Big Ten play, while Minnesota is 14-6 and 8-4 in the conference.
This series has long leaned Penn State’s way. The Nittany Lions own a 52-16 edge over the Golden Gophers, including a 41-16 mark in Big Ten matchups.
Even so, Minnesota has been better at home, where Penn State leads the series 23-11. The Gophers also took the most recent meeting, sweeping Penn State 3-0 in 2025, their first win over the blue and white since the end of the 2021 season in late November.
Since the start of the new decade, the teams have split evenly with four wins apiece.
For Penn State, Kennedy Martin is the headliner again. The senior opposite hitter has been piling up points and tightening up her all-around game with each match. Against Purdue on Halloween, she posted 27 points on 24 kills and six block assists, hit .321, committed just six attacking errors on 56 swings, and added nine digs.
Emmi Sellman has also become a bigger piece of the offense. With Whitney Lauenstein handling the primary outside role, Sellman has settled in as a reliable No. 2 option.
Against Purdue, she finished with 12 kills, four blocks, and 14.5 points, while making only four errors on 35 attack attempts for a .229 hitting percentage. She also chipped in three digs.
Minnesota will lean on McKenna Wucherer and Stella Swenson. Wucherer has already shown she can take over a set by herself, with 10 matches of 20 or more points and four of at least 25. In the Gophers’ last match against USC, she had 11 kills with only one error on 31 attacks, hit .323, and added four aces, four block assists, and five digs.
Swenson gives Minnesota production across the board. The junior setter can stay on the floor for a full rotation without giving much away defensively, and she has had four matches with 10 or more digs.
Her setting numbers have been huge, too, including 61 assists against UCLA, 52 against Purdue, and 51 against South Dakota earlier this year. She had 27 assists in the USC match.
The pick here is Penn State in four sets, 3-1. Both teams are rolling, but the Nittany Lions have been climbing fast, with three of their last four opponents coming in ranked and their only recent loss dating back to Oct.
- Martin has been on a heater, topping 20 points in nine matches this season and reaching at least 25 points six times.
Over the last four games, she has put up 27, 25.5, 25, and 27 points. With Martin driving the offense, a back row that has found its identity, and a group that is working well together, Penn State looks set up to keep the streak going.
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Penn State Just Got A Bigger Problem For Washington Trip
Washingtons quarterback situation is suddenly worth watching again heading into Penn States trip west. Jedd Fisch said Demond Williams is expected to start against the Nittany Lions if he feels healthy, a notable development for a Washington offense that has had to navigate both injuries and uneven play from its signal-caller this season.
Williams has already shown why his availability matters, returning late in a recent game and helping Washington close out a win. For Penn State, the uncertainty is less about the name on the depth chart than the challenge of preparing for a quarterback who can change the feel of a game when hes on the field, even if his season has been anything but steady. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State May Have Found An NBA Talent Nobody Saw Coming
Roko Prkain arrived at Penn State with a rsum that already looked different from the usual college transfer story. The Croatian forward had played professionally in Europe, once pulled his name out of the 2021 NBA draft, and later went undrafted in 2023 before the NCAA cleared him to suit up just before the 2024-25 season opener. For a program trying to add immediate talent, the timing could hardly have been better.
Prkain wasted no time showing why there was buzz around his name, going off for 28 points in his debut for the Nittany Lions. It was the kind of opening-night performance that can change the conversation fast, especially when a player with pro experience starts looking like a potential NBA-level piece in a college uniform. The bigger question now is how quickly Penn State can turn that kind of individual flash into something lasting. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Faces A Real Road Test In Washington Turnaround Bid
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Washington brings its own momentum into the matchup after a recent victory sparked by quarterback Desmond Williams Jr., and that makes this trip a real test for Penn States turnaround bid. The Lions have shown enough improvement to believe they are moving in the right direction, but this is the kind of road game that can quickly show how much of that progress holds up away from home. [Read more 🡒]