No. 1 PSU, No. 2 USC jumpstart season

Aug. 26 — 6 p.m. ET: No. 2 USC Trojans vs. No. 12 Minnesota Gophers

Aug. 26 — 10 p.m. ET: No. 3 Cal Golden Bears vs. UC-Riverside Highlanders

Aug. 27 — 7:30 p.m. ET: No. 1 Penn State Nittany Lions vs. No. 2 USC Trojans

Aug. 27 — 9:30 p.m. ET: No. 5 Nebraska vs. New Mexico State

McClendon

PSU

Deja McClendon
Penn State
Sophomore
Outside Hitter
Key Notes: McClendon, the AVCA Division I National Freshman of the Year last season, returns to the court for her sophomore season as part of a large, but inexperienced group of hitters. She was named the Most Outstanding Player at last year’s NCAA championship, and also picked up AVCA Second-Team All-America and First-Team All-Big Ten honors last year. McClendon finished second on the team with 418 kills (3.43 kills per set) in 2010 and was fifth in digs with 230.

Other Players to Watch this Weekend:  USC’s Alex Jupiter (Senior, Outside Hitter), Cal’s Elly Barrett (Junior, Setter), Nebraska’s Brooke Delano (Senior, Middle Blocker), Texas’ Rachael Adams (Senior, Middle Blocker), Stanford’s Stephanie Browne (Senior, Outside Hitter), Washington’s Bianca Rowland (Senior, Middle Blocker), Illinois’ Colleen Ward (Senior, Outside Hitter), Florida’s Kelly Murphy (Senior, Setter).

• No. 1 Penn State clashes with No. 2 USC on Saturday night in the featured matchup of the weekend. The Nittany Lions have 13 players who are either freshmen or sophomores while USC returns three All-Americans for the first time since 2004.

• In its first season in the Big Ten, No. 5 Nebraska has three players named to the All-Big Ten Preseason team, including unanimous selection Brooke Delano. Delano was joined by juniors Hannah Werth and Lauren Cook, head coach John Cook’s daughter.

• Sixth-ranked Stanford will have a much different look when it takes the court for its opener on Friday against Rice. The Cardinal, looking for its sixth consecutive conference title, lost three All-Americans to graduation: Gabi Ailes, Alix Klineman and Cassidy Lichtman.