Volleyball set to meet Stony Brook

When the Princeton volleyball team visited the Palestra this weekend, it marked the 46th meeting of the Quakers and the Tigers, easily making Princeton the opponent that Penn has faced the most in the program's 26-year history. Tonight, Stony Brook (14-10), a program in its first year at the Division I level, comes to Philadelphia to battle the Quakers (10-10). While the matchup won't be quite as intriguing as the traditional Penn-Princeton rivalry, the fact that this is the first-ever meeting between the two teams should provide a little drama. Intrigue has been just about the only predictable element of Stony Brook's season. The Sea Wolves have been surprisingly strong, winning 14 of their first 24 matches as a Division I program. "It's been exciting," Stony Brook coach Theresa Tiao said. "It's a real exciting transition for us. I love the competition, but in the same vein, it's been difficult preparing for the teams." Preparation cannot be too difficult for Stony Brook. The Sea Wolves have a better record against Ivy League teams this season (2-3) than the Quakers (1-4). "I feel that we have good defense right now and we're scoring a lot against the Ivy League teams," Tiao said. "So I'm confident that we'll be able to play with Penn and play a good game." The two teams are fairly equal. Both are 1-3 among their common Ivy opponents. Both defeated Harvard in four games and lost to Brown and Princeton in three and both teams also lost to Yale. In other matches, Penn fell to Dartmouth and Stony Brook beat Columbia. Of course, Penn's loss to the Tigers on Friday was no typical three-game sweep. The Quakers battled hard and outplayed the visitors from Old Nassau for most of the match but came up short on the scoreboard. It will be difficult for the Red and Blue to have the same drive against the Sea Wolves. "We'd practice for Stony Brook like we did for Princeton," Penn setter Jodie Antypas said. "We'll have to focus on playing each point intense and not stopping until we get to 15. We have to know that it's under our control and that we don't have to give it to the other team." The focus for tonight's match will certainly be different. Penn's battle with Princeton was as much about frustrating the Tigers as it was about building up the Quakers' level of play. Stony Brook, meanwhile, offers no longstanding rivalry -- there is no message to be sent to the rest of the Ivy League by winning. Tonight, then, Penn will be able to work on its own game against a team that is on the same level as its Ancient Eight competition. That is something that last Tuesday's opponent, Long Island, did not offer the Quakers. "Our goal right now is to win, no matter who's on the other side of the net, to prepare ourself for [the Ivy Tournament]," Penn defensive specialist Kai Gonsorowski said. "Every point we play goes to the end of the season and then we can fix anything no matter who we're playing." For the Quakers, there is still also the matter of bouncing back mentally and physically from a very emotional and hard-fought defeat at the hands of their biggest rivals. "[We have to] stay focused, and know that it's not over," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "Having a tournament, we know we can come back. This team does a good job of bouncing back, like [after] the Dartmouth loss." Penn's only Ivy victory this season, the 3-1 triumph over Harvard, came the day after losing a tough match to the Big Green. In fact, in the 10 days since that loss, Penn has played its best ball of the season, winning two of three matches and playing at or above the level of two of the Ivy League's best teams, Harvard and Princeton. "I think we're just focused on getting better," Major said. "It doesn't matter who is across the net. Let's just work on ourselves and overcome any close games that we might have right now and push on to point 15." Against Princeton, Penn did that, but lost the first game 18-16. If the Quakers have learned from that experience, then when 14 appears on the scoreboard under "Pennsylvania" tonight, 15 will be quicker to follow.

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