And the streak continues.
In its second match of the season against Dartmouth, Penn volleyball extended its five-game winning streak with a 3-1 victory on the road at Leede Arena, 19-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-13.
The Quakers (13-7, 7-4 Ivy) are now undefeated in their second trip through the Ivy League circuit, winning all four matches thus far. Their five-game winning streak began at the Palestra, coincidentally against Dartmouth (10-13, 3-8).
Once again, the Quakers lost the first set, despite getting off to a fast start, jumping ahead to a 10-7 lead. Penn proceeded to lose the next 10 points to the Big Green, falling into a hole that they were unable to recover from.
The Red and Blue were plagued by errors in the set as they committed eight to Dartmouth’s four. However, the Quakers would find a way to turn things around for the rest of the match.
Leading the team in kills were sophomore Alexis Genske and senior Kristen Etterbeek, who each had 13. Both played key roles in the turnaround, as Penn’s offense became the hyper-efficient machine that it has been for most of this winning streak.
During the second set, the Quakers managed a .325 hitting percentage, turning in 16 kills and just three errors. This success continued through the third and fourth sets, while Dartmouth became much more error prone, committing more errors than kills over the final two sets.
Penn also saw yet another dominating defensive performance from senior libero Dani Shepherd, who had 28 digs. Meanwhile, sophomore setters Alex Caldwell and Ronnie Bither stood out for the Quakers as well, notching 26 and 25 assists, respectively.
Dartmouth was led by sophomore outside hitter Paige Caridi, who hit for 10 kills on a .152 hitting percentage. Freshman setter Stacy Benton had a double-double with 29 assists and 11 digs.
A win at Harvard tomorrow night would put the Quakers in a tie with the Crimson for second place in the Ivy League.
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