Volleyball hosts Ivy home opener

After losing to Yale and Brown, penn will look to beat Dartmouth. The Penn volleyball team hopes that familiar territory will aid in its attempt to turn around its recent difficulties. After opening the Ivy League season with road games at Yale and Brown -- both of which Penn lost 3-0 -- the Quakers (8-8, 0-2) host their first home Ivy League match against Dartmouth (8-9, 1-1) at 7 p.m. tonight at the Palestra. According to some Quakers, many of the team's woes can be attributed to an inability to play consistently and maintain a high level of intensity throughout a match. Penn has recently been cursed by both its failures and its successes. After playing a good point, the team sometimes relaxes a little, allowing its opponent a chance to pounce. Conversely, the Quakers sometimes dwell on mistakes instead of letting them go and moving on to the next point. This leads to making several mistakes in a row and allows the other team a chance to rack up several consecutive points. Both of these difficulties have contributed to the team's inability to string together successive points, forcing them to play catch-up late in their games. "I think the main thing for us is to play consistently," sophomore Jodie Antypas said. "This past weekend we would be playing really well for a few points and then just stop. We need to play as well as we can as consistently as we can. "I think that passing and defense for us are the keys because when we start off the match playing really well defensively and passing well, it brings the rest of our game up another level." Despite the difficulties the Quakers faced in their first two Ivy matches last weekend, they believe that they have identified the problems and will perform better against the Big Green. This past week, Penn has abided by the philosophy that the best way to prepare for a tough opponent is tough practices. Several members of the Quakers squad have noticed an added intensity to this week's practices as well as a very committed attitude among the players. "We had a session Monday where we discussed our problems and we decided that we were having difficulty maintaining momentum," senior Karin Witte said. "Essentially that was our problem. We decided that we needed to step up our communication so that the same mistakes weren't happening again." Although the regular season means essentially nothing in crowning the season's Ivy League champion, no one on the team doubts the importance of getting a win today or how devastating a loss could be. The regular season games are used solely for seeding purposes in the two-day Ivy League tournament at season's end but the Quakers realize that a victory over the Big Green could mean a lot more to them than where they will fall in a bracket several weeks from now. "We are definitely in a position where we need to build some confidence," Witte said. "I think that we are suffering a little from that. I do not even want to say what I think would happen if we dropped to 0-3 [in Ivy League play]. I'm not even thinking about not winning." Penn also believes that playing at home will be to its advantage; the Quakers hope to bring out a little Palestra magic to help them get their first conference win. According to coach Kerry Major, the Quakers' recent road trips to California and then to Yale and Brown were extremely draining on the members of her team and contributed to their lackluster play. The players hope that by surrounding themselves with a more comfortable environment their volleyball games will flourish. "We've been sick, had midterms and being on the road a lot really wears you down," Major said. "Being at home where we can sleep in our own beds [and] eat our own food -- that really is a home-court advantage, especially here at the Palestra." Against Dartmouth, the Quakers will need to capitalize on every advantage that they have. The Big Green are perennially one of the top defensive teams in the Ivy League, which could be troublesome for Penn if the Quakers are not on top of their collective game. Dartmouth also has the revenge factor as motivation, as the Big Green hope to avenge a loss to the Quakers in last season's Ivy tournament. "If our defense plays well and their defense plays well, it could be a very long game," Major said. "We want to wear them down, maybe take it to five games and wear them down in the fifth. That's our master plan."