VB finds Mojo while taking weekend pair

With the decisive fifth set deadlocked at 14, Penn libero Madison Wojchiechowski watched Cornell's hottest hitter, Meagan Tatum, reach high and deliver a hard strike across the court. "Mojo," as her teammates call her, dove to her left, extended her arms just within reach of the ball and popped Tatum's swing straight up for her 40th dig of the match, setting a new school record.

She definitely had her mojo flowing.

So did her team. Julia Swanson closed out the match with an ace one point later, giving Penn its second victory at the Palestra in as many days. The Quakers overcame an early deficit to defeat Columbia, 3-1, on Friday night.

"I thought my team hit well, it was one of our best attacking games," Cornell coach Deitre Collins-Parker said. "So for [Wojchiechowski] to have that many digs and for Penn to win that match is a huge tribute to what she did."

The matchup was expected to be a defensive struggle. Big Red freshman middle blocker Kelly Hansen added six blocks to her Ivy League-leading total while driving a unit that overwhelmed the Quakers in the early stages.

Cornell (7-13, 6-4 Ivy) registered 12 of its 17 blocks in the first three sets; Penn (10-11, 6-3) finished with just five.

"They're the best blocking team in the conference, and they showed that tonight," acting coach Ryan Goodwin said. "But it takes more than just being a good blocking team to win matches, and I think we showed that tonight."

Entering the fourth set, Penn hitters made two crucial adjustments that allowed them to revive the offense. They started hitting higher, over the block and also began seeing holes that opened up cross-court kills.

Swanson - who had a team-best 21 kills versus Columbia - recorded six of her 13 kills against Cornell in the final two sets, including five in the fifth.

Senior co-captain Kathryn Turner was Penn's most consistent hitter this weekend. She notched 10 kills on a season-high .529 hitting against Columbia (5-14, 0-10) and 13 on a team-best .462 against Cornell.

But on Saturday, Turner did most of her damage early. When the match was on the line, Swanson and junior Anne Magnuson stepped up and took over the offensive burden. They combined for five kills to start the fifth set as Penn opened up a commanding 7-2 lead.

After three Penn errors let Cornell close the gap, Hansen contributed on back-to-back blocks to tie the set at 9, forcing a Penn time-out.

In the timeout, Goodwin emphasized fundamentals that his team needed to remember to close out the match.

"It's like mashed potatoes and gravy for them, as far as being able to execute those kinds of things on the floor," he said.

The Red and Blue got back to basics and closed out the set behind two more kills by Swanson and strong serving by setters Megan Tryon and Emily Ettel, not to mention Wojchiechowski's record-setting defense.

The Quakers moved into third place in the Ancient Eight with the win.

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