Volleyball hopes KO'd by Bears

The Quakers were sent packing by Brown from the Ivy League Championship at Dartmouth. In an Ivy League volleyball tournament where the only thing predicted was the inevitable unpredictability, the end result was familiar, as Princeton won its fourth Ivy title in six years. The Tigers defeated Harvard, 3-2, in yesterday's final of the double-elimination tournament at Dartmouth. All five of the Crimson's matches went the distance, starting with their first round tilt with Penn. After losing its opening-round game to the Crimson on Friday, Penn went on to lose to Brown and beat Columbia the following day. Coming off an up-and-down regular season, the Quakers started their Ivy Tournament on a downswing, dropping the first two games to Harvard at Leede Arena. Penn had defeated the Crimson at the Palestra during the regular season. "They came out fired up for revenge, and played a lot better ball than they did at the Palestra," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "Then we made some adjustments and started coming back." The Red and Blue's comeback was as forceful as it was nearly inconceivable. Against the No. 3-seeded Crimson, Penn won the third game 15-7, then hit a .231 percentage to avoid defeat in the fourth game, taking that frame 17-15. The comeback's improbability was symbolized by its leader. Co-captain Karin Witte, who had registered just 11 kills in her career for the Quakers before this season, tallied 16 in the match and led Penn with a .448 hitting percentage. "It's always rewarding to leave with a feeling of personal success, and I do [have that]," said Witte, a senior who played in her final collegiate volleyball matches this weekend. "In the match against Harvard, we showed real tenacity." Never was that more apparent than in the first-round match's fifth game. Harvard seemed to have a lock on the matter, storming to a lead that reached as much as nine points early on. Finally, the Quakers managed to score on a rally to get Crimson hitter Erin Denniston to rotate into the back row. "She's just this 6'2" big blonde girl, and when she came forward, our defense couldn't cover all the angles she could hit," Major said. "But when she went to the back row, we got a lot of points." Penn scored a point. Then the Quakers scored another. The next thing the crowd at Leede Arena knew, Penn and Harvard were tied 14-14 in the fifth game. Then, however, Denniston came back to the front row and closed the match by herself, registering her match-high 22nd kill on the winning point. "It was appropriate because she was the one we couldn't stop," Major said. "We did as best we could and Harvard's just a little better team right now." Penn was a much better team than Columbia, which the Quakers destroyed on Saturday morning, 3-0. The second game was a particular study in demolition, as Penn outhit the Lions by a comical .861 -- the Quakers hit .545 while Columbia staggered to -.316. Penn won that game 15-1 and hit .304 for the match, as everyone on the Red and Blue roster played and registered at least one kill or one dig. "It was great to see that total team effort," Major said. "We used it as a way to prepare for Brown." Unfortunately for the Quakers, battling the Lions proved to be completely ineffective preparation for a match with the Bears. The Quakers fell behind early to Brown in the first game but once again showed an ability to battle back. Penn scored 10 consecutive points at one stretch to tie the score at 13. But the Quakers' familiar problem of not being able to finish games resurfaced. The Quakers fell 15-13, and from there, the experienced Bears knew what to do, defeating the Red and Blue in a three-game sweep and eliminating them from the tournament. In her last match, Witte did all she could, posting 10 kills, five block assists and a .364 hitting percentage. "It's upsetting because I never doubted that we could have won the Ivy championship," Witte said. "But I don't have any regrets. I don't feel we played poorly, and what happened, happened." While Witte is one of three Quakers who will be lost to graduation, along with co-captain Kristel Weaver and two-time captain K.C. Potter, Penn should be strong next year as the entire defense -- which consisted of only freshmen this year -- returns to try to carry Penn to new heights in the Ivy League. "Witte just came through," Major said. "The Ivy League tournament is special and that's where you turn it up. And the defense we played was awesome and that's really encouraging."