Senior triad to lead team

There are three of them. Standing at three different heights. Playing three different positions. With three seemingly different personalities.

Yet somehow, they all live together, play on the same squad, and perhaps most importantly, manage to get along with each other.

They are the Penn volleyball team's seniors -- setter Jodie Antypas, outside hitter Stephanie Horan and middle hitter Kelly Szczerba.

Antypas, the team's 5'9" quarterback, hails from Los Altos, Calif., where she was an active child.

"I played a lot of sports when I was little -- soccer, track, softball, everything," Antypas said. "My older sister played volleyball, so I was always dragged around to her tournaments, and some older family friends of ours played volleyball. So from the time I was 10, I was always around it."

Antypas started playing club volleyball when she was in the sixth grade and continued to play the sport at both the high school and club level in her teenage years.

She knew she wanted her volleyball career to continue into college, but wasn't sure where.

"I was recruited really late in the season and I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go," Antypas said, "except that I knew I wanted to come to the East Coast."

After visiting Penn at the last minute, Antypas fell in love with the campus and Penn volleyball, and made the trek across the country to matriculate at Penn in the fall of 1998.

The Quakers' other two seniors didn't have to travel nearly as far, as Long Island, N.Y., is just a few hours away from Penn by car or train.

Horan made that trip after being recruited by the father of Heather Glick, a former setter at Penn.

"Heather played for the same club team [LIBA] that I played for," said Horan, who started playing at the age of 10. "Her dad recruited me to come to Penn. I put my application in early, got in and now I'm here."

Szczerba's road to Penn volleyball was a little different. In fact, the six-footer wasn't even considering playing the sport in college until her junior year of high school, when Szczerba competed against Horan in a high school match.

"Our high schools played each other, and her father came up to me randomly after one game and asked me if I considered playing for a club team," Szczerba said. "I really hadn't, but after talking to him I decided to try out. I made the team.

"I originally planned on playing softball in college, but because of her dad, I actually ended up changing my college recruiting."

Playing on the same club team helped Horan and Szczerba feel comfortable in their first days as Penn volleyball players.

"It's always nice to know someone before you come in and have played with them before," Horan said. "It has really helped our chemistry on the court."

It took Antypas a little more time to get to know the other two members of her class.

"The three of us always got along, but Kelly and Steph came from the same club team, and they were both kind of shy at first," Antypas said. "I wasn't the odd one out, but they always knew each other a little better. I finally broke in and now it's the three of us that stick together all the time."

And it's the three of them that have helped bring Penn volleyball to the level of closeness that exists within the team today.

"I think that plays a large part in how [well] we've been doing lately," Szczerba said. "We're out there, we trust each other and we have a good time."

But having come from three different paths to volleyball, there are differences between the seniors. And that's not a bad thing.

"One thing that's been really nice about the three seniors that we have now is that they have very diverse personalities," junior defensive specialist Kai Gonsorowski said. "It's easy to find one that you can confide in because your point of view is always represented."

The Quakers are hoping that the diversity at the top will lead them to the school's first Ivy League title since 1990 in the seniors' fourth and final season.

"They're the heart and soul of this team," Major said. "It's going to be really hard to lose them, because they're what Penn volleyball is all about."

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