The Penn State Nittany Lions women's volleyball program has had a long tradition, founded in 1976 by Tom Tait, long-time coach of the Penn State men's team, who coached the women's team from 1976 to 1979 and was named a USA Volleyball All-Time great coach in 2007.
Russ Rose was the head coach from 1979 to 2021. He led the program to seven NCAA national championships, first in 1999, then in each year from 2007 through 2010, and in both 2013 and 2014. Rose has led the Nittany Lions to appearances in every NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament, making Penn State the only program in the nation to appear in every NCAA volleyball tournament since its inception in 1981. Rose is the nation's all-time leader in wins, winning percentage and NCAA tournament winning percentage.
Prior to entering the Big Ten Conference in 1991, Penn State experienced unprecedented success in the Atlantic 10 Conference, winning eight straight championships, never losing a conference match in that time.
Notable seasons
1990
In 1990, Penn State entered the NCAA tournament undefeated with a 42–0 record. The Nittany Lions swept Purdue and Big Ten champion Wisconsin in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, before losing to Nebraska in the NCAA Regional Final. Of the team's 44 wins, 40 were sweeps, a school and national record.
Penn State finished sixth in the final 1990 Tachikara Coaches Poll, the program's highest final ranking ever at the time. In addition, Rose earned his first AVCA National Coach of the Year honor.
1993
In 1993, the Nittany Lions surged into their third year of Big Ten play and won their second consecutive conference title. At the NCAA tournament, the team strung together four victories and earned the right to play for the National Championship against Long Beach State.
1994
In 1994, Rose coached the Nittany Lions to a second straight NCAA national semifinal appearance and picked up his 500th career win early in the season. Placing second in the Big Ten with a 17–3 conference mark, the Nittany Lions posted a 31–4 ledger on the year and ended the regular-season ranked No. 5, at the time their highest regular-season finish ever. Season highlights included beating eventual national runner-up and perennial powerhouse UCLA at the Volleyball Monthly Invitational and No. 1-ranked and undefeated Nebraska in Lincoln at the NCAA Mideast Regional final to advance to their second straight national semifinal.
1997
In 1997, Rose's Nittany Lions finished as runners-up to Stanford in the NCAA national championship game after defeating Florida, 3–0, in the semifinals. Penn State, favored to win, made their third Final Four appearance in five years. Terri Zemaitis was named the NCAA championship MVP.
1998
After posting a runner-up finish in 1997, the Lions made it back to the NCAA Championship match in 1998. The team cruised through the regular season with a 30–0 mark, with 28 of those coming in three sets. Penn State also became only the second school to close out the Big Ten schedule with a perfect 20–0 mark.
After winning its fifth Big Ten title, Penn State hosted the NCAA First and Second rounds and the Central Regional. They swept past Bucknell, Clemson, Louisville and Brigham Young to earn a spot in the school's fourth national semifinal. Once they reached the NCAA Final Four in Madison, Wisconsin, the season ended much like 1997. Penn State defeated Nebraska, 3–1, to advance to the national championship match. And once again, the Lions had to rally from a 0–2 deficit to force a fifth game, only to come up short against Long Beach State for the NCAA title. Despite losing, Cacciamani was named co-MVP for the tournament.
1999
Rose led Penn State to the program's first NCAA national championship (their third consecutive appearance in the NCAA title match) and their second-consecutive 20–0 record in Big Ten play (and fourth straight conference title), becoming the first team in conference history to pull off the feat. In the national semifinals, they defeated Pacific, 3–2, and in the finals they defeated Stanford, 3–0, with scores of 15–2, 15–10, 15–7, marking the first time all season that Stanford had been swept. Lauren Cacciamani was named the championship MVP for the second consecutive year. Bonnie Bremner and Cacciamani were also named first team All-Americans. Bremner became Penn State's first ever four-time All-American. Cacciamani was named the AVCA National Player of the Year, Big Ten Player of the Year, Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year and the Honda Award winner for volleyball.