Volleyball gets weekend sweep in Empire State

In their final ivy League weekend, the Quakers came away unscathed. NEW YORK -- This past weekend was supposed to be a look into the future of Ivy League volleyball. Penn was to visit Cornell, a program with a first-year coach, on Friday. On Saturday, the Quakers were to visit Columbia, the perpetually forward-looking doormat of the Ivy League and a squad boasting no seniors. Instead, the weekend turned into a preview of tonight's Senior Night as Penn's veterans made important contributions to spark the Quakers to a weekend sweep in the Empire State. At Columbia, Penn (12-11, 3-4 Ivy League) seemed to be headed down an unpleasant and all-too-familiar road. After taking a 14-12 lead on the Lions (14-9, 1-6), Penn dropped four straight points to lose the game 16-14. "We are struggling experience-wise at finishing off games," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "But we're getting better at the close ones, and if we lose a close one and come back, we're doing better." Penn certainly is doing better. The surprising first-game triumph for Columbia -- which has won just one Ivy match in two years -- could have served as a confidence booster for the Lions. Instead, it worked as a wake-up call for the Quakers. "The only thing the first game did was make Penn start playing," Columbia coach Carolyn Elwood said. "I don't think they played their game the first game but Penn really came out stronger after that first game, and that made a big difference." Keying the turnaround for the Quakers was senior K.C. Potter. The outside hitter made her final regular season Ivy League match one to remember, igniting the Red and Blue as soon as she stepped off the bench. "It means a lot, these last few weeks," Potter said. "It comes down to crunch time and you know that every time you're out on the court is a golden moment. You have to take advantage of it and play with your heart." After fellow senior Karin Witte's kill secured a sideout to open the second game, Potter put on a show, giving Penn a 2-0 lead with two impressive kills. By the time the night was over, Potter tallied 17 kills. The former captain of the Quakers made only one error on her 30 attempts, converting for a .533 hitting percentage. She also came up with 14 digs against the Lions and Penn cruised the rest of the night, taking the match 14-16, 15-5, 15-10, 15-7. "I felt I knew where the holes were, and I was getting the sets that allowed me to place them there," Potter said. "I was just trying to remain aggressive throughout the whole match." Those sets came from sophomore Jodie Antypas, whose 60 assists matched a career high set in last year's Ivy Tournament against Dartmouth. Antypas now has 1,600 assists in her career. With 31 assists tonight against La Salle (14-13), she can move into fourth place on Penn's all-time assists list, passing Fran Kaufer (1,604) and Tracey Clark (1,631). Antypas also led Penn with 18 digs on Saturday. She hit .545 with six kills. On Friday at Cornell, she recorded 36 assists in the Penn victory. Potter was also active against the Big Red. After Penn won the first two games, 15-10, 15-7, the Quakers dropped the third, 15-7. Potter came off the bench for the fourth game, had four kills and led the Red and Blue with a .333 hitting percentage as Penn took the final game 15-11. Major said that Cornell is a young and hard-playing team. "It was really a test for us to come out strong and stay strong." Particularly important in maintaining Penn's strength in both victories were the Quakers' blockers. Penn outblocked the Big Red 7-0. Even though Columbia had a 9-8 blocking advantage on the Quakers on Saturday, the presence of Penn's blockers altered the Lions' attack. Kelly Szczerba and Stacey Carter led the Quakers against Columbia, each with four block assists. The victories, combined with other results from around the Ivy League this weekend, put Penn into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Ivy standings with Yale and Dartmouth, who both defeated Penn this season. Because of that, Penn receives the sixth seed in the tournament and will face Harvard in the first round. Penn shocked the Crimson with one of their only two league losses earlier this season at the Palestra. "The one thing about the Ivy Tournament is that you can lose every game during the regular season, but it's definitely going to help us to be seeded higher," Szczerba said. "But we've played all the teams in the Ivies now. We know what they can do, we know what we can do." Penn has not only faced all of the Ivy teams, but tonight's opponent, the Explorers, as well. The Quakers defeated La Salle 16-14 in the fifth game of their match at the season-opening Colgate Tournament. "There's no other team that's closer to us -- maybe Drexel," Major said. "We have to play our best all the time to beat this team. If we come out slow, they'll beat us. But with Senior Night and all, I think we'll be up for it."

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