Volleyball sweeps home weekend

It took the Penn volleyball team just eight games to go 2-0. This weekend the Penn women's volleyball team did something they had not done since before the season started. They reached .500. The Quakers swept their weekend matches, improving their winning streak to four games by defeating both Drexel and Colgate 3-1. Blocking was key on Saturday, enabling Penn (5-5) to beat cross-town rival Drexel (5-11) 15-12, 15-7, 9-15, 15-10. The Quakers collectively had 17 team blocks and were led by senior Sue Sabatino's six blocks. "They have very strong outside hitters," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "When you focus on one position, you'll have two blockers there." The Quakers started off quickly, building a 12-3 lead in the first game. After a Drexel timeout, the Dragons stormed back and closed the gap to 14-12. Penn regained the serve on senior Jackie Morris' kill, one of her team-leading 15 on the day. Penn iced the game on the following play behind freshman Stephanie Horan's kill. The highlight of the match was the second game. The Red and Blue fell behind 6-1 early. Instead of calling timeout, Major use substitutions to slow the Dragons' momentum. Penn showed its team maturity with an immediate response. With Sabatino serving, the Quakers earned 13 points in a row to claim a 14-6 lead. "They were winning because of our errors," Major said. "I knew we were capable of coming back because we were in control." Penn and Drexel subsequently traded sideouts six times, with the Dragons scoring once in the process. Then, with Sabatino serving again, the Quakers won the game to take a 2-0 lead into intermission. Penn lost the third game, but immediately answered and finished off the Dragons in game four. Five Quakers -- Sabatino, Morris, Horan, freshman Kelly Szczerba and junior Kristel Weaver -- were in double digits in the kill column. For Drexel, Kari Hall had 14 kills and 16 digs, and Meggan Krumrine also had a double-double with 13 kills and 16 digs. In a carbon copy of Saturday's match versus Drexel, Penn won the first, second and fourth games yesterday against Colgate, en route to a 15-5, 20-18, 11-15, 15-5 victory. After cruising through the first game, Penn showed its development by battling adversity on multiple occasions in the second game. After falling behind 8-1, the Quakers tied the game at eight behind three Sabatino kills and a service ace. Then the match became a see-saw battle, with six lead changes. The Red Raiders had game point three times -- at 15-14, 17-16, and 18-17 -- but failed to put the game away. The biggest point of the game came when Penn trailed 18-17. Horan, who has 24 service aces on the season, had one of her four aces in the match to tie the game at 18. "It's a jump serve, so it gives the ball top-spin, making it faster coming over the net," Horan explained. With Horan still serving, the Quakers scored the last two points of the game to win it 20-18. Colgate, who served poorly throughout the match, made eight of its 14 service errors in the second game. Despite the poor serving, Colgate had a strong defensive game, led by Tara Lyons' 22 digs. The Red Raiders minimized their mental errors in game three, which resulted in a15-11 win. Nevertheless, Penn came back and completely shut Colgate down in the final game, winning easily by the score of 15-5. "Offensively, Sabatino is a good hitter and a smart attacker," Colgate coach Dorinda von Tersch said. "She hits the sidelines well, so we needed to play our correct defensive positions. When we didn't, she beat us." For the second consecutive day, Penn did a great job blocking. Szczerba led the team, which amassed 16 blocks, with three solo blocks and five blocking assists. "It's good to see we are where I want us to be," Major said. "If we had dropped either of these matches, we would not be at that point." Amidst two barnburners, Penn had many chances to fold this weekend, but persevered. The Quakers hope this mental toughness will bring them to the next level in the Ivies.