Volleyball wins two of three at Quaker Classic

Volleyball is a game of momentum, Penn learned this weekend while hosting the Quaker Classic tournament. The four-team tournament exhibited some great talent with Rutgers, Rider and Towson State competing with the Quakers for the title. Penn, Towson State and Rutgers all finished the Classic with records of 2-1, while Rider was winless at 0-3. The Quakers opened the tournament against the Tigers of Towson State. Penn prevailed in five games, winning the last two games, 15-9 and 15-8. Penn was led by Sue Sabatino's 17 kills and Megan McKay's five service aces. Junior setter Heather Tillett distributed balls well, utilizing all of the Quakers' weapons. Four hitters were in double digits with kills. Sophomore Abby Daniels contributed 15 kills, and co-captains Karen Kinsherf and Jessica Luftman both added 11 kills each. The connection between Tillett and the hitters was working well all night. "We were able to hit every set," Tillet said. On the second day of the Classic, Penn's first match was against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights entered the weekend 10-1 and proved to be the Quakers' toughest competition. Unable to contain the hard-hitting attack of Rutgers, Penn fell in three straight games. Rutgers held the momentum for almost the entire match. The Scarlet Knights, led by Canadian freshman Lola Opadirian, out-killed the Quakers, 49-34. The connection between Tillett and the hitters just was not as consistent as the night before. "We weren't as fluid the second day," Tillett said. In the final game, Penn overcame an early five-point deficit to pull within one at 12-13. But Rutgers quickly scored the last two points of the match on poorly timed Quakers passing errors. After the loss to Rutgers, Penn bounced back against an inexperienced Rider team. The Quakers were able to gain momentum at critical points and defeated the Broncs in three games. In the final two games, Penn fell behind 0-5 and 0-7, but both times came back to win. In the second game, Penn took back control and kept it the rest of the game by going on a 15-1 tear to prevail 15-6. Both Sabatino and Daniels got back on track offensively with 17 and 13 kills, respectively. On the defensive side, Luftman led the way with 13 digs. "We played more consistently than last year," said Daniels, who was named to the all-tournament team. However, keeping the momentum will be key for the Quakers this season. Lapses occurred during all three matches. "We had a lot of ups and downs," Sabatino said. Penn emerges with a 4-1 record going into the Drexel Invitational next weekend. This time, the Quakers will try to be more consistent in keeping a steady flow on their side of the net.