Volleyball tries to recapture Penn pride at 'Nova tonight

After the beating issued to the Penn football team by Villanova on Saturday, there must be some measure of school pride on the line when the Penn volleyball team travels to the Main Line tonight. Last year, however, the Wildcats defeated Penn 3-0 at the Palestra. "This is probably a true test," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "This is someone that obviously killed us last year, and if we beat them, I think it'll be a good marker of where we are." Penn is in an interesting position already. The Quakers (7-5) have been successful recently despite the struggles of Stephanie Horan, who led Penn last year with 50 aces and 225 digs and was tops among Penn's returning players with 231 kills. Fortunately for Penn, other players have been delivering good performances, but to beat a Big East team like Villanova, Horan will need to have a strong night. While Horan does lead Penn with 129 kills and 21 aces, her hitting percentage is down from last year and she has a stunning 41 service errors. "I feel like I've been in a slump in general up until [Friday's match against] Georgetown," Horan said. "After Georgetown, I feel like snapped out of it. So maybe the serving is on the same track. I sure hope so. We'll see how it goes tomorrow -- hopefully better." Horan's struggles were perfectly typified in one sequence on Saturday against Drexel. She served two consecutive aces but then drilled her next attempt into the net. Villanova, meanwhile, has been struggling. The Wildcats are 7-8 and on Saturday lost starting middle hitter Tina Zitterich to an injury. "People will have to rise to the occasion," Villanova coach Heather Hoehn said. "We were playing pretty well behind [Zitterich]. I think it'll be a good test for both programs." A good early indicator will be the first game of the match. In matches against inferior Towson and Drexel teams this weekend, Penn was very flat early. A similar poor start tonight could spell disaster for the Quakers. "That's our goal -- a great first game," Major said. "We have to be smart [tonight] and play at our top level. We can beat them. So anything less than a win will be disappointing." The Red and Blue obviously picked up on the message during yesterday's practice. "If we play on top of our game, we can challenge anyone and give them a good run for their money," Quakers senior Kristel Weaver said. "We have a really good chance of playing well and beating them so I'm looking forward to that."

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