Only a year removed from winning the national championship, the Penn State women’s volleyball team squeezed into the NCAA tournament Sunday as an at-large No. 8 seed.

The Nittany Lions, coming off a 35-2 campaign that ended with a 3-1 win over Louisville in the national championship game, endured an up-and-down regular season that saw them finish 18-12, 12-8 in the Big Ten. They began the season ranked No. 2 in the country.

Penn State will play South Florida (17-12) in Austin, Texas, at 5:30 p.m. Friday. A likely date with top-seeded Texas awaits the winner at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, also in Austin.

This is Penn State’s 45th consecutive tournament appearance dating to 1981, the tournament’s inaugural year. The Nittany Lions have never lost in the round of 64 since the tournament expanded in

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