Penn State volleyball's Maggie Mendelson will join the women's basketball team in 2025-26

The Penn State volleyball team's middle blocker Maggie Mendelson started her NCAA athletic career as a two-sport athlete, and she intends to end as one too.

On June 25, it was announced that Mendelson signed with the Penn State women's basketball team. After she finishes her senior season on the volleyball court in the first half of the academic year, she will shift gears and play center for the Lady Lions in the backhalf of her NCAA career.

This isn't a new path for Mendelson. As a freshman in 2022-23, she did the same thing at Nebraska. However, after her first season, she exclusively focused on volleyball as a sophomore and junior.

With the Cornhuskers as a freshman, she tallied 47 kills, 31 assisted blocks, 22 assists, two solo blocks, two aces, and 14 digs.

Her focus leant more towards volleyball entering her freshman year. Mendelson attended July practices with the basketball team and switched back into volleyball mode as soon as the month concluded.

Then transitioning after the volleyball season, she rejoined the basketball team. Mendelson played in 22 games and started her season before semester break in 2022. She tallied 41 points, 39 rebounds, and 13 blocks in the rest of the women's basketball regular season. This included the four points and three rebounds she had against Penn State on Jan 11.

During the women's basketball postseason, Mendelson had two points, nine rebounds, three steals, and one block.

She transferred to Penn State for the 2024-25 season and was crowned a national champion with the Nittany Lions. She started in 36 of 37 games and played in each match at middle blocker. She totaled 242 kills, 128 assisted blocks, 18 solo blocks, 15 assists, and four aces throughout the season. She added an additional 46 digs as well.

Also as a junior on the volleyball team, the six-foot-five-inch middle blocker overcame her former team in the Big Ten Championship game in a 4-1 match with the Cornhuskers. She had eight kills in the match.

With the women's basketball team, she'll join the six-foot-six-inch center and redshirt junior Gracie Merkle. Mendelson will also add height to the Lady Lions and hopefully assist in rebounds and blocks around her shorter teammates.

Women's basketball head coach Carolyn Kieger is also in a rebuilding era. While Mendelson is entering her senior year, she'll hopefully have a positive impact on future returners, especially underclassmen.

The Penn State women's volleyball regular season begins on Saturday, Aug. 23 and ends on Saturday, Nov. 29. Assuming the Nittany Lions make the postseason and try to defend their national title, Mendelson's union with the women's basketball team will be delayed until around January.