If this past weekend's 2001 Sheraton-Shula's Volleyball Invitational is any indication of how the Penn volleyball team will play in its upcoming Ivy League matches, the rest of the Ancient Eight better watch out.
The Quakers were tested during the course of the two-day tournament held at the Palestra, but they were able to come out on top of the five-team field by posting a 4-0 record.
Leading Penn (5-3) last weekend was senior outside hitter Stephanie Horan, who was named tournament MVP.
"I think it was a really great accomplishment for me, because last year I had a lot of trouble, especially in the front row," Horan said. "To come back this year in our second tournament, come out strong and win the MVP award is pretty important."
Penn coach Kerry Major was also pleased with Horan's efforts.
"The best surprise of the whole tournament was Steph," Major said. "Seeing her turn it on and do everything that I knew she was capable of doing was great."
Horan's best match of the weekend came in a five-game thriller against Robert Morris (9-4) on Friday night which Penn won, 30-22, 23-30, 31-29, 28-30, 15-5.
The Quakers had annihilated Loyola (Md.) (1-10) a few hours earlier in their first match of the day, hitting a season-best .316 en route to a straight-set victory by scores of 30-19, 30-22, 30-21.
Robert Morris -- a strong East Coast Conference team that won that league last year -- was a much more worthy opponent.
Horan carried the offensive burden for Penn against the Colonials, notching 20 kills and hitting .383.
A major stumbling block for Robert Morris was its inability to get anything past senior middle blocker Kelly Szczerba, who had 10 blocks -- twice the amount of the entire Colonials team.
"Kelly Szczerba came back, which was really good for us to see," Major said. "It was the first time [since tearing her ACL during the 2001 spring season] that I've seen both offense and defense working for her at the same time."
Szczerba, who was named to the All-Tournament team along with Horan and sophomore outside hitter Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan, had another great effort for Penn against Northeastern (6-5) on Saturday afternoon, accumulating 13 kills and seven blocks.
The second game between the Quakers and the Huskies was by far the most exciting of the match, with Penn coming out on top in the end, 35-33.
Penn faced game point three times, but was able to keep its composure and hold on for the win.
"In rally-scoring, you can't ever let up," Major said. "The most consistent team, the team that fights to the very end, will win. I'm glad to see that our team has that character."
Penn won the third and fourth games by scores of 31-29 and 30-20, respectively, to take the match.
Penn easily disposed of Drexel (6-5) in Saturday's nightcap, defeating the Dragons by scores of 30-32, 30-18, 30-18, 30-22.
Major set a goal at the beginning of the weekend to solidify a starting lineup. But, after seeing so many players have great matches during the weekend, she was unsuccessful, which she noted was "actually a good thing."
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