Volleyball winless in Ivy opening weekend

The Quakers fell to Yale and Brown, largely as a result of their own errors. The Quakers fell to Yale and Brown, largely as a result of their own errors.The Jesse SpectorThe Quakers fell to Yale and Brown, largely as a result of their own errors.The Jesse SpectorThe Daily Pennsylvanian Penn opened its Ivy League season this weekend with losses to both Brown and Yale. The Quakers (8-8, 0-2 Ivy) were in control of both matches but sequences of errors doomed the Red and Blue to defeat on both Friday night and Saturday afternoon. "The only times they got points were on our errors, rather than their kills," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "I know we can play without making those errors, and there are times where we dig everything and we just persist until we kill the ball, and why we can't do that every time is still a mystery to me." Tied at 7-7 in the first game against Yale (10-5, 1-1), the Quakers suddenly lapsed into a series of errors. The Elis scored the next seven points. Penn cut the lead to 14-11 but it was too late, as Yale closed out the game 15-11. Yale then opened the second game by taking a 4-0 lead on an ace and three misplays by the Quakers. "That's got to stop," Major said. "If we make an error, we have to concentrate and come right back. We have to not make three errors in a row. You make three errors in a row and you're out of the game." The end of the second game and start of the third game saw still more of the same, as the Elis scored 11 out of 13 points, even though Yale only hit .063 in the second game. But the Quakers weren't dead. "You just have to be ready to come off the bench and do whatever the team needs," Carter said. "Even though they came out on top, we gave them a good fight, and next time it could come out differently." Things would certainly be different if the Quakers could play at a high level more consistently. That goal, however, continues to elude the Red and Blue. "If you find that solution, you can become coach," Major said. "That's what we're trying to find. We're getting into the mental part of the game. It's mentally believing that we can do it all the time and then actually doing it." But when Penn did do it, the Quakers quickly crumbled -- in both matches. After rallying to take the 10-9 lead in the third game against the Elis, Penn scored just one point the rest of the match, as Yale closed it out 15-11. The Quakers' difficulties, however, were not confined to the state of Connecticut. After dropping the first game against Brown (7-9, 1-1) on Friday night, Penn raced to an 11-6 second-game lead. From that point forward, however, the Quakers tallied just three points, and the Bears cruised to victory. "We made like five errors in a row," Major said. "We missed a serve, shanked a pass, hit out, hit out, hit into a block. I don't even need to review films to know what we did. We just mentally relaxed and didn't play the game that got us to that point, and we gave them the confidence that they needed. We have to learn that as a team, when a teammate makes an error, it's like you made an error and you can't make another." Another problem for Penn this weekend was in the service game. The Quakers did register 11 aces this weekend to their opponents' combined 10, but Penn's 18 service errors led to important sideouts, while the Bears and Elis combined for just 10 service errors against the Red and Blue. "I just hope my serving is more consistent than it has been lately," said Penn sophomore Stephanie Horan, whose three aces and six service errors this weekend brought her team-leading season totals in both categories to 28 and 52, respectively. "With aggressive serves, you're going to miss a lot. But you have to focus on getting a good serve and getting it in." Service will be very important for the Quakers to work on this week in practice, as Dartmouth and Harvard visit the Palestra at the end of the week. Those matches will be very important to the Quakers, as the difference between 2-2 and 0-4 could eventually turn into the difference between a better seed at the Ivy League tournament or facing an impossible task in chasing the league title in November.