Volleyball res vs. Villanova: Vollebyall falls short in Big Five

The Penn volleyball team's hopes of a Big Five City Series Championship were swept away as Villanova swept the Quakers 3-0 last night (15-7,15-5,15-13). The larger, more aggressive Wildcats (18-7), handed Penn (11-7) its fourth-straight loss. The Quakers were hoping to use their quickness and depth to wear down a taller, slower Villanova team. But they were unable to put the Wildcats on the defensive. With game one tied at three, the Wildcats used only two servers to take a 12-3 lead before winning the game 15-7. All season Penn coach Margaret Feeney has stressed the importance of limiting opponents' servers to no more than one point, hence preventing teams from building momentum. While most of the year the Quakers have been successful using this strategy, last night the team was unable to return Villanova's aggressive serves. "We had trouble with serve reception," Feeney said. "There were a lot of serve reception errors" Captain Devon Austin agreed. While the Penn senior believed that the Wildcats were "the toughest serving team we've faced this year," she also felt that Penn is capable of doing a much better job of passing. Despite the lack of good passing, Austin still managed to lead both teams with 15 kills. Not bad considering the Wildcats outscored the Quakers 45-25. Although Villanova dominated much of the match, Penn did show some life in game three, taking a 13-10 lead, but some costly errors late in the game led to a 15-13 defeat. "We had some mental errors," Feeney said. "You can't afford to make mistakes against a team like [Villanova]." Senior outside hitter Jennifer Ott felt the team was somewhat intimidated by the powerful Big East school. "We got scared and tentative," Ott said. "We stopped having fun. When [Villanova] got more aggressive, we got less aggressive. When we started losing, we stopped performing?It was disappointing that we couldn't pull out game three." Lack of aggressiveness, mental errors and inability to close out a close game. These are not the characteristics that helped the Quakers build an 11-3 record before this current four-game skid. Although Penn seemed frustrated with its recent performance, Austin did not feel the three California matches over Fall Break should be viewed in the same light as the match with the Wildcats. "In California we were up against a different caliber of play," Austin said. "But we expected a much better match – if not a win – against Villanova." While Penn's chances at a Big Five title have been swept under the rug with last night's loss to the Wildcats, the Quakers' main goal of an Ivy League title is still very much alive. This weekend the team looks to regain the winning touch, and hopes to do some house-cleaning of its own in matches at Cornell and Columbia.