Cruisin': Volleyball wins its 21st

Last night, the Penn volleyball team took the Palestra court for its final regular season match, lacking the emotion one would expect at such an event. With no seniors, Penn's last home outing, a match against the Sacred Heart Pioneers, was just another preparation for the Ivy League Championship tournament around the corner. Keeping this in mind, the Quakers came out strong and triumphed decisively over their opponents in three games. The Quakers (21-7) came out a bit shaky in the first game, losing the first two points to Sacred Heart (6-19). Then Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan stepped up to serve, and the tempo of the game shifted Penn's way. The Quakers regained control with consistent blocking, confident digging and strong outside hitting. Penn went on a quick 5-0 run and forced Sacred Heart coach Scott Carter to take a timeout. Penn continued its dominance by making use of its middle hitters. "I got my timing down with the setter, and we finally started connecting," said freshman middle hitter Heather Janssen, who finished the night with seven kills. "We've been kind of off lately." Sacred Heart struggled with its basic skills, eventually ending the night with five service errors. The Quakers took advantage and won the first game, 15-5. In the second game, the Pioneers jumped out to an early lead once again. The Quakers caught up and prevailed over the Pioneers, 15-7, but never really found their rhythm. "Offensively, we need to work on scoring on transition," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "We seem to score fine off sideouts, but then we lack the kill. We let them make the mistakes. I would rather score not on their mistake, but on our kill." Penn was able to capitalize on the Pioneers' service errors, carrying and double-hit violations. The Quakers front row teamed up to frustrate Sacred Heart, consistently blocking their attack. In addition, the back row completed 51 defensive digs. Penn sophomore Kai Gonsorowski led the team with 12 digs of her own. "I've been on and off lately," Gonsorowski said. "I am concentrating on consistency and making sure that if I miss a ball, making sure that I don't let it happen twice." In preparation for the Ivy League tournament coming up in little over a week, Major decided to use the third game to give her substitutes more experience. "I wanted to stay with the starting lineup and basically insert our 6-2 situation, which we may have to use in the Ivy Tournament," she said. As a result, Penn freshmen setter Meghan Schloat and freshman right side Lauren Carter entered the match. Both played confidently for the Quakers -- Carter finished with four kills and Schloat with 10 completed sets. Major also gave freshman Lauren Purdo a chance to build up her confidence going into the Ivy tournament. "Lauren Purdo is our third middle blocker," Major said. "Heather Janssen and Kelly Szczerba do great, but if one of them gets hurt, I have to make sure [somebody else] is prepared." The Quakers finished off the Pioneers in three games, winning the last, 15-9. Penn's success also came from a spread-out offensive attack. Setter Jodie Antypas connected well with her middle and outside hitters all night. Katie Brandt continued her streak of stellar performances, adding 10 kills and three digs. Stacey Carter and Kwak-Hefferan each contributed six kills. With the win last night, the Quakers extended their home winning streak to 11 straight matches, increasing their record at the Palestra to 12-1. But their focus is no longer here in Philadelphia. Instead, the Quakers are looking forward to Boston, where they will face Harvard in the first round of the single-elimination Ivy League Championship tournament. Although the Crimson will have the home-court advantage, Penn knows Harvard is beatable. The Quakers swept the Crimson in their regular season meeting earlier this year.

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