The month-long battle for top regular season honors in the Ivy League volleyball race will reach its climax this weekend. The four teams still in the hunt -- Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth and Penn -- each have two Ancient Eight matches this weekend. These matches will determine the seeding for the Ivy League Championship Tournament, which starts two weeks from today. Penn (18-7, 3-2 Ivy League) will take on Cornell (14-6, 4-1) tonight at 7 p.m., and will play Columbia (15-7, 1-4) tomorrow at 4 p.m. Both matches will be at the Palestra. The Quakers will definitely have their work cut out for themselves against the Big Red. Cornell currently sits atop the Ivy League in kills per game (14.73) and assists per game (13.22). "They're the same kind of team [as we are], so what you're gonna get is a war," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "We'll see who can outcoach, outhustle and outplay [the other team]." Penn will have to shut down Cornell's "Big Three" -- middle blocker Robin Moore and outside hitters Debbie Quibell and Jennifer Borncamp -- if it wants to have any chance of winning. The three players are 1-2-3 on the team in digs and kills, and all three players are in the top 10 in the Ivy League in kills per game. Moore, a first team All-Ivy selection in 1999, is coming off an amazing weekend in which she picked up 32 kills in two matches. She now has 1,075 career kills, a new Cornell record. Quibell and Borncamp have also been dominant. Thus far, the two players have combined for 528 kills and 408 digs. Each has been named Ivy League Player of the Week once this season. The Lions, led by sophomore middle blocker Kathy Lavold, will also provide a tough challenge for the Quakers. "We gotta put them on defense right away," Major said. "Then they won't be able to get the ball to her." Lavold is an all-around star, ranked first in the Ivy League in hitting percentage (.359), fourth in blocks per game (1.03) and fifth in service aces per game (.39). Penn will face tough serving for the second time this week when it plays Columbia. The Lions are currently No. 1 in the Ivy League in service aces per game (2.31), with three of their players in the individual top 10. The Quakers did not fare so well in their first encounter with tough serving, giving up nine aces to La Salle last Tuesday night. Overall, Penn needs to continue to do what it has done all season: play great floor defense and dominate the net. The Quakers are tops in the Ivies in blocks (234.5), digs (1633) and digs per game (18.56). "If you don't have the defense, you can't run the offense," Penn outside hitter Stephanie Horan said. "The offense will come with those passes, the great digs and the effort." Penn also needs to get out of the cellar in key offensive categories -- kills per game (12.40) and assists per game (10.82) -- to be successful. If the Quakers win both of their matches this weekend, they will be guaranteed at least a tie for second place in the final standings.
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