Volleyball plays well in sweep by Rutgers

Penn's volleyball team lost three straight after a close 17-15 first loss. In a five-day span, the Penn volleyball team played matches against both ends of the volleyball talent spectrum. After easily sweeping this weekend's matches against lowly Cornell and Columbia, without losing a game, the Quakers (7-13) fell to Big East powerhouse Rutgers by the scores of 17-15, 15-4, 15-7. Since Rutgers (14-9) is arguably Penn's toughest opponent of the year, the Quakers knew winning would be difficult, so they set out to make gains in preparation for next weekend's Ivy League Tournament. "We had specific goals to work on, and we had confidence from the weekend," Penn coach Kerry Major said. The Quakers' goals included playing solid defense and shutting down Rutgers' junior Lola Opadiran. Showing its development as a team, Penn was able to succeed in both areas. The Red and Blue amassed 37 digs, led by freshman middle blocker Kelly Szczerba and senior middle blocker Sue Sabatino, who finished the match with seven digs each. Sabatino was also tops among Quakers in blocks, with four blocking assists. Penn registered a total of seven blocks in the match, only one-half less than Rutgers. An even greater accomplishment for the Quakers was their ability to shut down Opadiran. Opadiran received second team All-Big East honors last year as a sophomore, and she has led the Scarlet Knights in kills throughout her collegiate career. Although Opadiran has proved her dominance in volleyball, Penn effectively took her out of yesterday's match. She finished the game with merely two kills and a hitting percentage of .000. To shut Opadiran down, the Quakers had to sacrifice emphasis on other players, which Rutgers used to its advantage. Rutgers sophomore and outside hitter Kera Carter, who was second in kills to Opadiran last season, had 18 kills and a hitting percentage of .378 against Penn. However, she was the only Scarlet Knight with double digits in the kill column. Penn freshman outside hitter Stephanie Horan reached eight kills, as she continued her success from last weekend when she had 21 total kills against Cornell and Columbia. "We had no one in the double digits in kills," Major said. "We did a smart job of keeping the ball in play, but they did a great job defensively." The high point of the match for Penn came in the first game. Showing the confidence they gained from last weekend's sweep, they hung tough throughout. After denying the Scarlet Knights game point, the Quakers came back to tie Rutgers at 14-14. Rutgers won the side-out and subsequently regained a 15-14 lead. Yet again, the Red and Blue denied Rutgers' bid for a victory in the first game by regaining the serve. After tying the game at 15-15, Penn eventually lost its serve, and Rutgers went on to win 17-15. Afterward, Rutgers cruised to victory, winning the last two games 15-4 and 15-7, respectively. Although the box score indicates Penn lost 3-0, the Quakers capitalized defensively and, most importantly, attained their pre-contest goals. After being expected to win last weekend, Penn made the transition from favorite to underdog three days later. In the process, however, the Quakers did not lose any momentum heading into this weekend's Yale Tournament.

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