Volleyball gets lost on 'comeback trail'

Something just wasn't right at the Palestra last night. Maybe it was the sudden plunge of the temperature, or maybe it was the stars, but the Penn volleyball team didn't quite have its normal enthusiasm. Down 2-0 to Princeton, the Quakers were skating on the thin ice of defeat. However, up 9-4 in the third game, the Red and Blue seemed to be headed down the proverbial "comeback trail". This was not the case. As they had done frequently during the match, the Quakers (4-5, 0-1 Ivy League) let their lead, and the victory, slip away. The issue was not the Quakers being overmatched, but rather outplayed. While Princeton (5-4, 1-0) played with tremendous consistency (making only 14 attack errors), Penn was not as efficient with 21 errors (10 in the first game alone). Although the Quakers had their moments with a few good points, the games were relatively sloppy. "We made way too many unforced errors," Penn coach Margaret Feeney said. "Princeton did not make any errors. Princeton kept the ball in play. Princeton attacked the ball better than we did." The Quakers' play was not horrendous, however. They did have a lead several times in the first and third games, but couldn't put the game away. Because they made so many errors, the Quakers had a difficult time building momentum. "I think we came out really enthusiastically," said Quakers junior middle blocker Karen Lewis, "but in the first game, when it got down to the end and we couldn't put them away, it really took away our intensity. That hurt us in the rest of the match." Lewis, recently back from injury, had a good game with a .400 hitting percentage. She is a key factor to the Quakers' success. This was not quite enough to help Penn last night. Too many unforced errors, and unemotional play, ruined all hopes of avenging last year's defeat to the Tigers in the third round of the Ivy championships. Veteran Lewis feels that no one player on the team is responsible for a Penn victory. "I think I'm playing as well as our team's playing," she said. "When we have the momentum and the desire to win, then we all play well." The loss to the Tigers is a slight setback for Penn in its quest for the Ivy championship. The Quakers' next two matches are against fellow Ivy Leaguers, Brown and Yale, both away. This will give them an immediate chance to get right back in the Ivy race.