Penn State Sports Magazine
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4 8 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Penn State will face the Mustangs in the second of two first-round matches, with the winners facing off later that same night for the title. All matches will be best-of-three, and each of the par- ticipants will take home $200,000 in NIL prize money, with the tournament winner receiving another $200,000 share, bring- ing the event's total payout to $1 million. On Sept. 6, the Nittany Lions will play in an even more storied venue when they face Kentucky at Wrigley Field. A Chicago native and lifelong Cubs fan, Penn State head coach Katie Schum- acher-Cawley has been looking forward to leading her team into the historic ballpark. The event will air live on FOX and will also feature a match between Nebraska and Missouri. "I think it's going to be really excit- ing and fun to see a lot of alums and the Penn State alumni chapter — not only for the team, but for the fans and the university," Schumacher-Cawley said. "It will be quite an experience." Combine those events with a Sept. 11 matchup against Stanford at the Pal- estra in Philadelphia and the first-ever Big Ten Tournament in November, and the Nittany Lions have a lot of reasons to be excited about their coming season. For Jurevicius, who totaled 195 kills in 27 matches last year, the challenges of the season ahead spring from the knowledge that there's a tradition to uphold at a program that has won eight national championships. "Every single season is different. It's new pieces, but it's always the same standard in the gym at Penn State," she said. "It's just about working hard and working for the girl next to you. "That's the standard the moment you step in as a freshman or as a transfer. And it's exemplified every single day through what we've been doing with captain's practices throughout the summer, voluntary workouts, getting in the weight room and even our successes in the spring. "It's all led to what we're doing in preseason right now. I'm very excited to see what this program does in the up- coming season, especially with so many fun, cool matchups in the preseason." ■ Jennifer Green Hired To Lead Women's Gymnastics Coming off a 2026 season at Air Force in which she was named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year, Jennifer Green was named head coach of the Penn State women's gymnastics program on Aug. 4. Green succeeds Sarah Brown, who stepped down in June to take charge of the newly formed gymnas- tics program at Texas State. A former All-America gymnast at LSU with coaching stops at Missouri and Iowa, Green arrived at the Air Force Academy in 2021 and steadily improved the Falcons' program. This past season, the team fin- ished 36th nationally, the third-highest ranking in program history. Led by all- arounder Maggie Slife, Air Force qualified for NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2002. Slife earned Mountain West Gymnast of the Year honors for the second consecu- tive season and became the program's first all-arounder to make the NCAA Champi- onships as an individual. "We set out to find a coach who could lead at the highest level of college gym- nastics, and Jennifer Green quickly dis- tinguished herself as the right person for Penn State," athletics director Patrick Kraft said in a prepared statement announcing her appointment as head coach. "She has coached in both the Big Ten and the SEC, and as an All-American gymnast at LSU, she understands firsthand what it takes to compete and win at the highest level. "Jennifer is a proven program builder, a relentless competitor and an out- standing developer of student-athletes. Her vision for Penn State, her belief in what this program can become and her passion for this community have me excited for the future of Penn State gymnastics." Women's Basketball Team Adds Two Players First-year head coach Tanisha Wright added two more players to her roster over the summer, bringing in freshman signees Ashlee Brown of Des Moines, Iowa, and Irene Garcia of Urnieta, Spain. Brown, a 5-foot-10 guard, started 43 games during her sophomore and ju- nior seasons at West Des Moines High. She averaged 7.7 points and 2 assists per game as a junior before moving on to Example Academy in Frankfurt, Ill. As a senior, she helped the Eagles reach the Elite Eight of the Grind Session Women's World Championship. Garcia, a 6-1 forward, played for Segle XXI, an elite female basketball acad- emy located near Barcelona. In 2022, she was selected to play for the Spanish National Team's U14 squad. The additions of Brown and Garcia brought Penn State's roster to nine players, all signed by Wright in the months since her appointment as head coach in March. — Matt Herb O L Y M P I C S P O R T S N O T E B O O K Green arrives at PSU after winning Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year honors in her final season at the Air Force Academy. PHOTO COURTESY AIR FORCE ATHLETICS