Uncharted waters for Volleyball

The Penn volleyball team has spent 10 years hunting down the first-place team in the Ivy League.

Now the Quakers are the hunted.

With a pair of wins last weekend over Harvard and Dartmouth, Penn (12-4, 6-1 Ivy League) moved into sole possession of first place in the Ivy standings.

"We know that we're in first, but we also know that we're only at the halfway point in our schedule," Penn sophomore middle hitter Heather Janssen said. "Other teams are going to be out to beat us and we're not the underdogs anymore."

The Quakers hold a half-game edge over second-place Brown (11-9, 6-2), whom the Red and Blue defeated, 3-1, on Oct. 20 at the Palestra.

"We're in a great position because we control our own destiny right now," Penn senior outside hitter Stephanie Horan said. "If we keep on winning, then we stay in first, and it's up to us to do that."

A combination of seven Penn wins and Brown losses will propel the Quakers to their first Ivy League title since 1990 and their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.

But Penn isn't looking that far down the road just yet.

"If you start thinking ahead in this league when there's so much parity, then someone's going to beat you," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "Right now, our goal is very short term. I don't think we'll ever sit down and talk about NCAAs until that last weekend [of Ivy matches]."

Penn's first short-term goal will be notching a couple of wins in New York this weekend.

The Quakers will first head to the Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y., tomorrow to face Cornell (13-7, 5-3) at 7 p.m.

Penn will be looking to avenge its only loss so far this season in Ivy play. The Quakers dropped a 3-1 decision to the Big Red on Oct. 13 at the Palestra.

Major, however, felt that the loss was a positive learning experience for her team.

"I'm glad we had a loss, because I think it was important to learn that you cannot have a complacent week at practice," Major said. "We've really picked it up since then."

Penn has won four straight since the loss. Cornell, of course, will be looking to end the Quakers' streak and bounce back from its pair of losses to Brown and Yale last weekend.

"Cornell fell apart in serving and passing [last weekend]," Major said. "But I expect them to be up again when we see them. We just need to expect that they're going to be even better than when we saw them first."

The Red and Blue have been expecting that, and they have been working hard in practice in preparation for the rematch with the Big Red.

"They're going to come out strong," Penn sophomore outside hitter Katie Brandt said. "But we've been preparing for them so much and improving our play at such a rapid level that we should win."

The rematch with Cornell will be followed by the second meeting between Penn and Columbia (11-6, 5-3) this season, which will take place at Levien Gymnasium in New York at 4 p.m.

The Lions have also been playing well lately, winning 11 of their last 14 contests. Their star player -- junior middle hitter Kathy Lavold -- just earned her third Ivy League Player of the Week honor this season for her solid performance last weekend.

To counter the offensive firepower of both Cornell and Columbia, Penn will rely on its perennially stellar backcourt. The Quakers lead the league in digs per game (19.84) and are ranked third in the nation in that category behind Rider and Southeastern Louisiana.

And if Penn's offense is producing kills the way it has been in the past couple of weekends, the reality of an Ivy League championship and a subsequent NCAA Tournament berth will continue to become clearer as the season approaches the home stretch.

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