Volleyball falls to Philly rival

The crosstown rivalry was finally re-established, but it didn't get off on the right foot for the Penn volleyball team.

The Quakers (1-3) played tough in their first match since Sept. 8, but were unable to overcome the quick-tempo offense of Temple (7-2) as the Owls cruised to a straight-set victory last night at the Palestra, 30-24, 30-27, 30-24.

"The biggest thing was that we did not come out on fire," said Penn sophomore outside hitter Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan, who is also a Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer. "We should've had a much higher intensity level."

The Quakers got themselves into a deep hole at the start of all three games. Temple's jump servers were the factor at the start of game one, and Penn had no initial answer for them.

"When you have four players doing a floater and all of a sudden a jumper comes in, it throws off the rhythm of the passers and usually causes the team some trouble," Temple coach Bob Bertucci said.

Penn eventually recovered after falling into an early 5-2 hole in the first game. The Quakers relied on their bread and butter -- strong blocking at the net and quick floor defense -- to score six straight points and take an 8-5 lead.

But the Owls responded. Seeing that Penn's blockers were not adept at moving along the length of the net, Temple setter Solana Lee moved the outside sets closer to the middle of the court, leaving holes in Penn's net presence.

"I feel like my blockers are used to being in one place for the set," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "We've worked on the outside blockers coming to the inside to help with those inside sets, but it just didn't come out until the third game."

Penn's offense was very predictable in the early going, and nearly every hitter that went up faced two Temple blockers.

"I think I was having some problems seeing the block, turning it where I wanted it to go and hitting the shots that we discussed before the game," said Penn senior outside hitter Stephanie Horan, who finished the match with two kills and two errors on 11 attempts.

The Quakers got within two points several times during the first game, but could never bring the contest to a tie.

Serve-receive problems put Penn in a five-point hole to open up the second game. But after the score stood 11-7 in Temple's favor and sophomore Katie Brandt came up to serve, the tables turned.

"Penn's jump server gave us a heck of a lot of trouble," Bertucci said. "She scored four, five points every time she came up to serve."

Brandt ran four straight points on the Owls, including three service aces.

"When Katie started, they didn't know what to do," Horan said. "It was kind of surprising, since they have jump servers on their own team that they're used to practicing against."

Temple, however, came out on top in the second game by relying on the firepower of sophomore outside hitters Shu Liu and Yun Xu, who both hit over .280 for the match.

The Quakers did play better toward the end of the third game, but their efforts were a little too late as the Owls won again.

"If this had been a five-game match, I think we would've been more competitive," Major said. "I think the effect of 10 days off and no competition was frustrating for everybody."

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