It is a season of contradictions for the Penn volleyball team. The Quakers are the three-time defending Ivy League champions, yet four key seniors graduated, including Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan, Penn's all-time leader in kills.
Expectations of outsiders might not be as high as they were for last year's team, but other Ancient Eight schools are still gunning for the team at the top.
Despite the losses, the team still has the attitude that it is the squad to beat in the Ivies this season.
"This team has the heart and soul that the other teams had that won," Penn coach Kerry Major Carr said.
She said that her team has worked as hard, if not harder, than the previous ones, and that they have shown "true grit and desire."
"We're really coming together," she added.
Adding even more to the players' confidence is that no one on this year's team has ever failed to win the Ivy League crown.
However, the graduations cannot be overlooked.
"We are in a rebuilding mode," Carr said.
She also said that there are still many questions to be answered about this year's team, including who will be in the starting lineup, and how this year's upperclassmen can fill the void left by the Class of 2004.
Senior middle hitter Lynzy Caton, as well as middle hitter Michelle Kauffman and outside hitter Cara Thomason, both juniors, are the three players singled out by Carr as possible sparks for the offense. Major Carr designated them as both the "keys to our offense" and the "cornerstones" of the team.
On defense, the Red and Blue has both liberos returning this year, sophomores Elizabeth Hurst and Meredith Damore. Carr called the fact that the two started as freshmen "awesome" and said that the focus of Penn's game plan will shift more to them, as they have the experience.
The Quakers also have six newcomers this season -- five freshmen and a sophomore -- whom Carr expects to lean on heavily.
"I ask a lot of them ... but I thinkthey can handle it," she said.
Carr hopes that the rookies will eventually contribute in games, but for now they must at least play a large role in practices.
Just as is the case for the Penn basketball teams, the Quakers start the season against non-league foes, some of which are nationally ranked. In playing teams such as San Diego and Virginia, the Quakers' goal is to learn from their mistakes and prepare to possibly face those same teams in the postseason.
Penn has yet to win a match in the NCAA Tournament during its recent run of Ancient Eight dominance.
Within the Ivy League, the Quakers expect stiff competition from Cornell, Harvard and especially Princeton, which was deadlocked with Penn until the very end of last season.
It may be a more difficult task for the Red and Blue to win the Ivy League this year, but at this point the players have maintained the confidence that has won them the last three Ivy League championships.
