With two dominating performances during its first full weekend of league play, the Penn volleyball team cemented itself as the team to beat in the Ivy League this year.
The Quakers blanked both Yale and Brown in consecutive matches this weekend, dismantling both squads, 3-0, at the Palestra.
Against the Elis on Friday night, the Quakers jumped out to a 30-16 win in the first game with aggressive net play and did not surrender their lead after gaining it on the first point.
The Red and Blue cruised to a 30-26 win in the second game, but needed a strong finish to put down the Elis in the third. The teams were knotted at 22 until Penn ran away with the game and the match, 30-25, by winning eight of the last 11 points.
The Quakers continued their dominance against Brown on Saturday. In game one, sophomore Michelle Kauffman had a solid block at 21-18, halting a Bears run that had cut the Penn lead in half -- the block propelled the Quakers to a 30-25 win.
Sophomore Cara Thomason then had an emphatic kill at the beginning of the second that led to a 6-1 Quaker run and eventual win, 30-14.
An intimidation factor seemed to be present throughout the third game as Brown opened the game with a serve into the net. The Red and Blue took the game, 30-22, as they downed the Bears, 3-0.
"We can't be disappointed coming off with two wins, but as a team I think we were very happy not dropping a game," Thomason said.
The Quakers have only lost four games in their last 14 Ivy League matches dating back to last season.
"We had a few moments where we faltered, but we came back strong, and I think that's really important," senior outside hitter Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan said.
Those moments in both matches seemed to come about during the second frame. After controlling play in each match during the first, the Quakers lost much of their drive during the second game.
"I think maintaining your intensity is hard to do when you are beating a team so easily," Penn coach Kerry Major Carr said of the letdowns.
"The best thing was that we went in the locker room after the two wins and we came back with more intensity than before," Carr said. "That's really the hard thing to do -- not to drop that third game like we did at Princeton."
Senior middle hitter Heather Janssen led the Quakers with a combined 26 kills for the weekend. Kwak-Hefferan collected 22 kills of her own and moved to within 29 kills of Penn's career record holder Melissa Ingalls, who had 1,129.
Senior setter Meghan Schloat came through with 42 assists against Yale and 39 against Brown to lead the Quakers in both games. Libero Meredith Damore, who had a series of sensational digs in the first game against Brown, totaled 22 digs between the two matches.
