V-ball struggles past Columbia, routed by Cornell

The Penn volleyball team entered the past weekend clinging to hopes of gaining the second seed in the Ivy League tournament. After defeating Columbia 3-2, the Quakers saw their chance slip away when they ran into a Cornell team determined to secure the top seed in the tournament. Penn returned from its New York trip with a 4-3 record in the Ivy League (13-10 overall) and facing the prospect of the No. 4 seed in the tournament. The earliest sign the Quakers were going to have trouble this weekend came against Columbia. The Lions entered the match with an 0-5 league record and a probable No. 8 eight seed in the tournament. Penn coach Margaret Feeney had been afraid that Columbia would come out fired up to avoid a winless Ivy League season, and the Lions justified her fears by jumping out to a 2-1 lead. "At the start of the fourth game [senior captain] Carol Cit Kovic told the team, 'We will not leave this court as the only Ivy team Columbia beats this year,' " Feeney said. The Quakers regained their focus and began attacking the height advantage they had in the middle. Middle blockers Jen Law and Susan Sabatino were second and third on the team in kills on the night behind Abby Daniels. Senior setter Heather Glick also contributed 45 assists as Penn finished off Columbia 15-11 and 15-10 to take the match. Penn's next challenge was Cornell. At 5-1 heading into the match, the Big Red needed a win to take the top league spot after defeating previously unbeaten Princeton the night before. Penn would be without sophomore outside hitter Jessica Luftman, who suffered a concussion against Columbia. The odds were definitely against Penn winning the match, but in the beginning the Quakers responded to the challenge by staying with Cornell. However, with the first game knotted at 10, Cornell turned to its senior leadership and closed out the game, 15-12. The Big Red immediately raised its level of play, and the Quakers could not keep up. Cornell closed out the match 15-5, 15-4 to claim the regular season Ivy title. "The second and third games were pretty ugly," Feeney said. "At times we played well, but we just couldn't put it together." Penn is now seeded fourth in the league tournament behind Cornell, Princeton and Yale. Since the tournament will be held at the Palestra, the Quakers will have the home-court advantage, which could mean a lot. Almost all the teams are evenly matched and upsets have been the norm in tournaments of years past. "With the parity in the league this year," Feeney said, "the team that is able to play well for all three days will come away with the championship." If precedence is any indication, Penn's chances should be better than its seed would dictate. In Feeney's first year as coach at Penn the Quakers came away with the tournament title despite coming in with the fourth seed. The Quakers are hoping they can repeat history and sneak up on some teams, despite the fact they lost to the three teams seeded higher than they are. "Just because we lost to Cornell this weekend doesn't mean that we can't beat them in two weeks," Feeney said. Penn travels to Annapolis next to play in the Navy Classic hoping to use the matches to peak for the tournament.