Vball shocked in Quaker Classic by crosstown foe

Coming into this weekend's Quaker Classic volleyball tournament at the Palestra, Penn was focusing on playing with intensity, hustle and the notion of never giving up until the final point. But it was the tournament champion Drexel Dragons who executed the Quakers' game plan with perfection. With a never-say-die attitude, Drexel (17-18) pulled off an amazing comeback that crushed Penn's spirit. After handling the La Salle Explorers (3-27) Friday night, the Quakers were riding high on the wings of their 15-5, 15-10, 15-2 victory. And this momentum seemed to carry Penn through the beginning of its second match of the tournament against the Dragons. The Quakers (12-9) came out on fire as they jumped to an early 8-3 lead after sophomore Joy Williams spiked the ball off of an errant pass by Drexel's April Yantis. This was one of three early unforced errors by the Dragons which contributed to Penn opening up the quick five-point lead. As the opening game continued, the Quakers used a balanced attack of hitting and defense to make Drexel scramble. Penn sophomore Karen Kinsherf controlled the net, and senior co-captain Hallie Ben-Horin headed up the backcourt with numerous digs and passes. This controlled attack allowed the Quakers to sneak out with an opening-game victory against a Dragon squad that had pulled into the lead. Drexel had two game points, but was unable to close out the game. Trailing 15-14 with Drexel serving, Penn junior setter Heather Glick dove out of bounds with her back to the net and popped the ball up to Kinsherf, who was able to hit it over the net. But the Quakers caught a break when Dragon sophomore Heidi Ruhl spiked the ball out of bounds. From there, the Quakers regrouped and closed out the opening game 17-15. The second game was just as thrilling, with the Quakers again squeaking out a two-point win. It started off quite differently as the Dragons jumped out early to a 9-5 lead due to the powerful hitting of Drexel junior Ann Crnich. But the resilient Penn team won 15-13, and went up 2-0 in the match. And in the ensuing Drexel huddle before the third game, coach Scott Pennewill said: "Now pick it up. We know we're a better team than this." He was right. Despite a thunderous spike and two-hand stuff by Penn freshman Tracey Frasch which enabled the Quakers to jump out to a 4-1 lead, the Dragons would not go away. In a game that went back and forth, and featured five lead changes, the Dragons relied on their hitters to win 15-13. Crnich and sophomore Jennifer Falk had an array of thunderous hits that eventually wore down Penn. This carried over to the fourth game, as they evened the match with a 15-7 win. It was then time for rally play. With every dead ball resulting in a point, the intensity Penn coach Margaret Feeney had focused on was in order. But Drexel was the hungrier team. After starting out with a 5-5 score, Drexel took 10 of the next 12 points to win the two-and-a-half-hour match. Drexel junior Monica Standring forced the Quakers to play defensively with three kills "We were scrambling, and we weren't sharp in the last two games," Feeney said. "We gave them a few little points here and there, but when you give a team confidence and momentum, anything can happen -- and it did." The Quakers then had to face the struggling Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers in the final match of the invitational. But the Panthers did not look anything like a 6-24 team. Penn lost in consecutive games, 15-4, 15-10, 15-2. The Quakers were overmatched by the powerful Panther hitters who were able to swing all-out. But Penn was still thinking about the previous match. "We were really disappointed with this morning's match," Penn junior Carol Cit Kovic said. "It was a communication shutdown. It's six people on that court, and in order to not make it look like mayhem, you have to communicate. We were running into each other, taking each other's balls and overlapping positions. We were sloppy." Now Penn will clean up it's act in order to prepare for this weekend's Ivy Championships. And this weekend's debacle has already been forgotten. "We have to go on now and win Ivies," Keri Gibson said. "We don't like to think in don'ts, we think in wills and cans."