Excited fans from The Line stormed the court of the Palestra Saturday evening as the Penn volleyball team defeated Dartmouth in the fifth game, 15-7, to take the match, 3-2. Although the Quakers' supporters were thrilled with the team's come-from-behind victory, they were even more ecstatic to finally receive their season tickets for the upcoming basketball season.
After a tough 3-2 loss to Harvard Friday night, the Red and Blue (8-7, 2-3 Ivy) lacked confidence and focus at the beginning of Saturday's game. The Big Green (4-12, 1-5) got out to an early advantage, winning the first two games, 30-25 and 30-27.
"Before the third game, they went into the locker room to regroup and give themselves confidence," Penn coach Kerry Carr said. "They got into the emotional part of the game."
In the third game, the Quakers eliminated passing errors and picked up their offense, routing Dartmouth, 30-15. After falling behind, 4-3, in the game, Penn tallied eight straight points with sophomore Meredith Damore serving.
Keeping their confidence and momentum, the Red and Blue defeated the Big Green 30-27 and 15-7 in the final two games.
Penn juniors Michelle Kauffman and Cara Thomason recorded 17 and 13 kills, respectively, for the Quakers. Freshman Laura Black added 15 kills and seven digs.
"Dartmouth caught us by surprise," Black said. "After we fixed our errors, we overwhelmed them. Once everyone gets focused, we play much better."
According to Carr, the key contributors to the victory were sophomores Elizabeth Hurst and Rebecca Chang, both bench players. Hurst tallied 11 digs, while Chang recorded eight kills.
"Everyone on the team was ready to contribute, which is important to our depth," Carr said.
Coming into the game, Carr knew that the Big Green defense would be strong.
"In order to beat Dartmouth, our defense had to pick up," she said. "We had to wait on the block."
"It was all about being patient and smart, even though we wanted to hit hard."
The large presence of 304 Line participants, as well as Penn alumni who graduated between 1994 and 2004, added to the atmosphere of the game. The alumni held a dance reception near the entrance of the Palestra, encouraging many of them to watch the game.
The team travels to New York this weekend to face Columbia on Friday and Cornell on Saturday.
"We're stronger than Columbia. We just need to take care of ourselves," Carr said. "On the other hand, Cornell is a very strong team, similar to Harvard. We have to take out our errors."
Penn 3, Dartmouth 2 (25-30, 27-30, 30-15, 30-27, 15-7) Kills: Penn 74, Dartmouth 62
Attack percentage: Penn .244,
Dartmouth .124
Set assists: Penn 61, Dartmouth 51
Digs: Penn 79, Darmouth 75
