Volleyball sweeps road trip up north

Harvard and Dartmouth are useful teams to the rest of the Ivy League. They allow the other squads to work on different strategies, play some freshman and take it easy. At the end, you get two wins and go home happy. But that formula may change for teams playing the Crimson this year as Penn found out Friday. The Quakers were tested by Harvard before escaping with a victory, 12-15, 15-8, 15-3, 17-15. The Big Green, in its first year of varsity status, played like a club team. It was slaughtered by Penn Saturday, 15-3, 15-8, 15-9. Penn (9-3, 4-0 Ivy League) heard Harvard had improved with a strong freshman class. Losing the first game was a wake-up call. "Initially, we weren't expecting to lose to them," sophomore Joy Williams said. "It shocked us that we lost. We didn't expect them to be that strong. "As the match went on, they really lost their effectiveness." The Crimson was able to compete this year largely because of the efforts of its young middle hitters, Elissa Hart and Sarah Logan. Hart almost singlehandedly brought Harvard back from the dead in the fourth game. Penn managed to hold on despite Hart's heroics, winning the fourth game, 17-15. "The team had a lot of intensity in the Harvard match, which was great to see," Penn coach Margaret Feeney said. The best that can be said about the Big Green is it showed up. The Quakers, using Dartmouth as an opportunity to play their reserves, still romped. Feeney was very pleased with the way her lesser-used talent played, mentioning freshmen Jessica Luftman and Tracey Frasch. "We we're very fortunate in that we were able to use a lot of first-year personnel," Feeney said. "At the Ivy League tournament, we'll have to use them a lot." The Quakers had to adapt to the loss of their starting middle hitter, junior Nida Germanas, who left the team earlier. Williams started in her place against Harvard, while freshman Susan Pojedinec started against Dartmouth. "Joy Williams played very well in the first game," Feeney said. "We threw Susan in there, she had six solo blocks and two assists. We feel really comfortable with our two middle hitters. I think the team is past that. " It might have helped that Penn played Harvard and Dartmouth.