Volleyball set to host Sheraton Invitational

The Penn volleyball team has only played one game at the Palestra this season. The Penn volleyball team has surprised many opponents with its improvement this year, starting the season at 5-4 against a very tough non-conference schedule. Perhaps the only thing that will get easier for the Quakers this weekend is that the Sheraton Invitational Tournament will be held at the Palestra, where the Red and Blue have played just one match this season. The Quakers dropped that match, a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Rutgers. Their opponent to open the tournament tonight will be an even tougher Big East squad -- Georgetown. "Last year, they beat us in three but we didn't play poorly," Penn sophomore Kelly Szczerba said. "We're a lot stronger this year and now we know them. We're a lot more prepared and a lot further along in our season." It is hard to believe that the season is only two weeks old. But the Quakers have made great strides in that time, winning three five-game matches, including a victory over Cal State-Fullerton last week that was Penn's first-ever triumph in the Golden State. "I didn't think we'd be as strong as we are right now," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "The girls have really picked it up." The Quakers have played so well this season that defeating the Hoyas no longer seems like such a long shot. "We can beat anyone here," Major said. "Especially here in the Palestra. Look at Penn and Temple [in men's basketball last season]. It's a very intimidating place to play." Still, the focus for Penn is emerging from the weekend with a strong effort against Georgetown and victories over Saturday's opponents, Towson and Drexel. "I don't want them to focus too much on the Georgetown match," Major said. "We're just going to go out and play our best. I don't want us to forget Towson and Drexel. Drexel especially always plays us tough and they're a strong team that hasn't had very much luck." The Quakers actually are focused on Georgetown only as the next opponent. Beating the Dragons, though, is the Quakers' primary goal. "I think our match with Drexel is always a good rivalry," said Penn senior K.C. Potter, who is currently tied for third on the Quakers with 59 kills. "But we need to take each match as its own. So right now, I'm looking towards Georgetown but we're looking to play some good hard volleyball against all three teams." As it has been all season, the key for Penn in the upcoming three matches will be to stick to its own game. Even though the Quakers won at Lehigh on Tuesday in three games, there is still plenty that the Quakers need to work on. "We should just try to focus on ourselves and playing well when we have the ball," Major said. "I don't think we did that against Lehigh, even though the score didn't show it." The stat sheet did show it. Despite Penn's domination of the Engineers, the Quakers only hit .082 in the second game. And while Jodie Antypas led the Red and Blue with five service aces, Major expressed a desire for her backcourt specialists to be more aggressive with their serves. The long list of surprised Penn opponents will probably end with Drexel, which has plenty of advance knowledge about its University City neighbor. "I expect Penn to be very strong defensivel, and have a lot of aggressive servers," Drexel coach Melanie Kopka said. "They'll play really well together and it'll be a very challenging match that we look forward to. We enjoy playing Penn." It's hard to say how much anyone will enjoy facing the Quakers these days. With two weeks still remaining until Ivy League play opens, it is safe to say that the Ancient Eight has its warning. "I think we're definitely overprepared for the Ivy League season," said Szczerba, who leads Penn regulars with a .316 hitting percentage after a .526 performance against the Engineers. "We're very ready for that."

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