Happy Valley holds a women's college volleyball powerhouse.
Penn State has won eight national titles since the first championship game was played in 1981, which is the second-most of any team in the country. Naturally, when a program is that dominant, there are a few historic rivalries that come along with it.
Just how the Nittany Lions are threats on the court, their rivals are the same. Here are Penn State's three top rivalries, all of which are some of the fiercest in all of college volleyball.
3.) Stanford
Penn State-Stanford might not be one of the oldest rivalries in college volleyball, but it's one of the most heated. The teams are neck-and-neck in the all-time series. Their 28th matchup is scheduled for Sept. 11 at the Palestra as part of a 100th anniversary celebration of the venue. The Cardinals currently holds a 14-13 lead in the series.
The rivalry began in 1992 with a Regional Semifinal match in Illinois. Stanford defeated the Nittany Lions, 3-0, and knocked the Penn State out of the tournament. Five years later, the Cardinals prevailed again, beating the blue and white for their second consecutive national championship.
The Nittany Lions got their revenge in back-to-back national title games, though, in 2007 and 2008. This was the first two of four straight championships Penn State brought home.
The teams have not met since Sept. 9, 2022, but have dominated college volleyball throughout history. They hold 17 national titles together out of 44 that have been played. Stanford is the only team that has more national championship wins than Penn State.
2.) Nebraska
Penn State and Nebraska are two very decorated college volleyball programs, and their rivalry got even hotter once the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten. Even before 2011, though, the Nittany Lions and Nebraska still penciled each other in to maintain the rivalry outside of the NCAA Tournament.
For 19 consecutive matches from 1994-2016, the programs were ranked in the top 10 nationally. They have also been ranked in the Top 25 for all but one meeting in series history.
While the Cornhuskers lead the rivalry by a wide margin — 30-13 — the Nittany Lions have become their kryptonite in tournament battles. They have met 11 times in the playoffs, and of their three semifinal meetings, Penn State took home two wins.
Most recently, the blue and white knocked Nebraska out of the tournament when they won the 2024 national title. The Cornhuskers were up 2-0 in the game, but the Nittany Lions didn't back down from the fight. They pushed Nebraska to five sets in the semifinal match, ultimately winning that fifth set and moving onto the championship game.
1.) Pittsburgh
Penn State-Pittsburgh is one of the oldest rivalries in college volleyball overall, and one of the most exciting.
The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series 33-18, but it took them nine games to take home their first win from when the rivalry started back in 1977. As Penn State slowly grew into the powerhouse we know today, it found pockets of win streaks against the Panthers. In 2019, Pittsburgh upset the Nittany Lions that ended a 16-game streak they were on. The Panthers defeated Penn State in 2025, 3-1, igniting a streak of their own after winning in 2024.
Both programs remain national title contenders season after season, only fueling the competition no matter if it's the regular season or in the tournament. The Nittany Lions have fell behind when it comes to the tournament versus Pittsburgh. The Panthers have won two of their three playoff matches, but Penn State won the most recent tournament matchup in 2021.
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