Volleyball splits in the Empire State

For Ivy League volleyball teams, the regular season is just preparation for the season-ending Ivy League Tournament. Penn entered the weekend road trip hoping to improve its seed in the upcoming tournament by defeating two teams that are close to it in the Ivy race, Cornell and Columbia. The Penn volleyball team has been looking forward to the tournament all season, but after going 1-1 over the weekend, the Quakers (7-11, 2-5 Ivy League) enter the tournament as only the sixth seed in an eight-team field. In the Cornell match, the Big Red (10-15, 2-4) jumped out to a quick lead by winning the first two games. After falling behind, the Quakers came back to win the next two games to force a deciding fifth. The Big Red would not let Penn come back, however, as they took the match by winning the final game, 15-11. "We just did not give up and we lost a heartbreaker," Quakers coach Margaret Feeney said. "We got beat. We did not roll over and die." "The loss at Cornell was hard to accept, because we should have beaten them," Penn outside hitter Jessica Luftman said. "But we were persistent throughout the match." After the Cornell match, Penn traveled several hours to New York City on Saturday to face Columbia (3-20, 0-6), the Ivies' last-place team. "I was a little nervous going into the Columbia match," Feeney said. "We had just gone all out for five games, and we didn't even get in until 3:00 in the morning." Despite the fatigue from the Cornell match, the Red and Blue were able to handle the weaker Lions. After winning the first two games -- including a 15-4 drubbing in the second game -- the Quakers let Columbia back into the match. Following losses in games three and four, Penn regained its composure and convincingly beat Columbia 15-8 in the decisive game. With the Ivy League season finished, the Quakers must play four more matches before the Ivy Tournament, where they face Dartmouth in the first round. During these four matches, Penn will continue to work on problems it has experienced all year, especially serving and hitting errors. "We started doing well with combination sets this weekend," Luftman said. "I think that we must continue to work on that." Throughout the season, the Quakers have had the Ivy Tournament as their main goal. As the tournament approaches, Penn must concentrate on improving certain aspects of its game in these final matches. "One weekend determines the champion," Feeney said. "Whoever is playing well that weekend could win, and we must be confident going into the tournament." The Quakers will finish their home season tonight against Lehigh (13-10) at 7 p.m. at the Palestra. According to Feeney, Lehigh plays with a style similar to Colgate, which Penn defeated earlier in the season.