Vball quest for title begins today

It would have been a safe guess on day one. But now, after over two months and 22 matches, it's a concrete fact. The Penn volleyball team wants the Ivy League title. And the NCAA Tournament bid that will – for the first time – come with it. Starting today, that title and bid will be up for grabs among the Ancient Eight as the 1993 Ivy League Championship Volleyball Tournament gets underway at Columbia. And the Quakers don't plan on leaving the Big Apple without enough wins to be league champs. "I am completely confident that we can dominate every other team in the league," Penn senior captain Devon Austin said. "We've beaten everyone in the league except [top-seeded] Yale, and I think if we play them again this weekend, we're more than capable of winning." The Quakers (6-1 Ivy League, 14-8 overall) enter the tournament as the second seed and will open their run at the title this afternoon at 3 p.m. against seventh-seeded Brown. On paper, the Bears (1-6 Ivy League) shouldn't cause many problems for the Quakers (they beat Brown 15-7, 15-7, 15-10 on October 1) but the Quakers are taking nothing for granted. Penn coach Margaret Feeney needs only to look back to the last few years for a reminder that strange things can (and usually will) occur at the Ivy Championships. "As a coach, I'm definitely taking one game at a time," Feeney said. "After all, we went in seeded fourth and won the thing [in 1990] and we went in with the top seed and wound up in fourth place [in 1991]." "In a tournament, everyone will step up and play better volleyball, so we have to get really psyched up for the Brown match," sophomore setter Heather Glick said. "We have to try to kill every team that we can quickly, because we can't afford to waste energy on weaker teams." Quickly may be the most important word that Glick used. Nothing against the Bears, but the Quakers have higher goals for this weekend than just the first round. So the Penn team doesn't just want to beat Brown – it wants to beat Brown in three games. "Obviously, the tournament is weird because anything can happen, so you don't want to look ahead," Austin said. "Brown's a scrappy team and we'll have to expect anything from them, but it's definitely important that we win in three if we can." If some surprises occur, and the Bears pull off the upset today, Penn's title hopes will still be alive, since the tournament runs with a double elimination system. Ideally, the Quakers would like to get to the finals on Sunday without a loss and force their opponent to need back-to-back wins for the title. Just as one can be sure that Penn wants the title, it's also fairly certain that several factors will play key roles for the team's fortunes in New York. The Quakers have maintained from the start that they understand what it takes to rise to the top – how true this is will be determined this weekend. Last year's heartbreaking five-game loss in the finals to Cornell has been looked at as a valuable learning experience, a foundation on which to build. "We're a more experienced team than we were last year, for one thing," Glick said. "We've proven to everyone that we're a better team. We've shown everybody that we can win. We have to keep doing that and we all have to go all out on every single play." Feeney has stressed fundamentals and determination all week long as necessities for a successful run at the title and NCAA bid. Both indeed could be crucial in some of the later rounds of the championships. "I think we have to play three or four [matches] consistently – if we do that, we're going to be successful," she said. "It really comes down to confidence and consistency. If you're not consistent and confident, you're going to make fundamental errors that will cost you points." Along these lines is another factor that will be sure to play a role in the tournament – emotion. It is no secret that the Penn team thrives on it, but it must be controlled. "One thing that will be really important on the court aside from the pure volleyball will be whether or not we can stay focused," Austin said. "We can get very emotional, and sometimes it's easy to lose focus on the court." In addition to these intangibles, two trends on the court must continue if the Quakers are to rack up a few victories. The first – and most obvious – is that Penn will need to continue to get strong play from Austin and Glick. Even top-seeded Yale's coach, Peggy Schofield, is willing to concede that the pair can dominate a match. "Devon didn't have a very good match against us [in a 15-10, 15-10, 15-13 Yale victory on October 2] , but she's definitely picked up her game to a higher level since then, and Heather Glick is easily one of the toughest setters in the Ivies," Schofield said. "I think because of those two, the entire Penn team has improved a lot since we played them." Throughout the season, Feeney has had the luxury of a very deep and versatile group of players with which to work. But with junior outside hitter Karen Jones now sidelined with a knee injury, there is even more pressure on the Quaker bench. "I'd say my biggest concern right now is [freshman] Alexis Usnick's inexperience on the outside," Feeney said. "At first, she and Karen were splitting time, but Karen came on and was playing two-thirds of the time. But I do think Alexis can rise to the occasion, and we'll be able to use a number of other people as well. "It just means that our versatility on the court will now be as big as our depth has been all year. Many of our players like [junior outside hitter] Hallie Ben-Horin and [sophomore middle blocker] Carol Cit Kovic can play other positions if they have to." The biggest obstacle to a Quaker Ivy title and NCAA bid, of course, will be the competition – especially the top-seeded Elis (6-1 Ivy League). Princeton (5-2) comes in seeded third and two-time defending champion Cornell (5-2) is fourth. Schofield is not bothered by the fact that the top seed has never won the championship, but she does expect her Yale squad to be in a close fight among the top four seeds. "All the top seed means is that we play Dartmouth in the first round," she said. "The top four are as close as they've ever been. It'll take three or four great matches to win it for anyone." Cornell is somewhat of a darkhorse, having won the Ivies for two years in a row but coming in as the fourth seed because of a season-ending loss to Princeton. But the champions are still a force in the league, and feel certain it can prove that to everyone. "We feel confident going in as two-time champs," Big Red Coach Merja Connolly said. "Everyone's healthy now and although we had a little bit of a down season, we're peaking now. Yale is the team to beat, and I think we play well against them and against Penn and Princeton. Penn, in particular, takes advantages of all mistakes, but if we play well I don't think they can stop us." Whether Connolly is correct or not, remains to be seen. But two things are already clear.The Penn volleyball team wants this Ivy Championship and the NCAA bid much as any team does. And the Quakers are as capable as any team is of getting them. "I want this team to go down in the history books as being the first Ivy League team to go to the NCAA tournament," Feeney said. "This is definitely a great opportunity for them." Indeed, a great opportunity to establish a few more concrete facts.