After traveling the country over the past two weeks, it seems only natural that the Penn volleyball team return home and host its own tournament this coming weekend.
The Quakers will remain in West Philadelphia for their next competition, the Sheraton/Penn Invitational. Teams from Northeastern, Georgetown, St. Francis (Pa.) and Syracuse University will face off over the two day span from tomorrow to Sunday.
Penn hopes to fare better on its home turf than it did on the other side of the country last weekend in San Diego. The Red and Blue were unable to gain any momentum against their West Coast powerhouse opponents -- Oregon State, Nevada and San Diego.
Going into last weekend's tournament, Penn coach Kerry Major Carr knew that Penn would be in for some tough matches against these superior teams. However, Penn's competition at this weekend's event will probably not be playing at the same level.
But no matter how well their opponents play, the Quakers should be ready for them after a long week of hard practice. Penn freshman Linda Zhang, whose performances have stood out over the past two weeks, believes that the Quakers' efforts will pay off.
"We worked on blocking, defense and tougher serves in practice," Zhang said. "I really think that we're only going to get better from here."
The Quakers' eminent improvement will begin with what each volleyball match starts with -- the serve.
After the tournament in Charlottesville, Va., two weeks ago, Penn was ranked No. 1 in the Ivy League in service aces, and junior Cara Thomason led the nation in the category.
By coming at their opponents with swift serves, the Quakers hope to immediately build up the momentum that will carry them to victory this weekend.
As tomorrow's action kicks off with Northeastern, Penn will have to be on the lookout for the Huskies' Whitney Turner, who has recorded 170 kills on the season. Kristen Conway leads Syracuse with 3.6 kills per game.
Georgetown is led by 6-foot-3 senior Sara Albert, who leads the Hoyas in both blocks and kills.
Penn also hopes to bank on some hometown spirit, as the Quakers look to bounce back from a few unfortunate losses and dominate the competition.
