Hard work pays off.
Penn volleyball coach Kerry Carr espouses this mentality for the team's preseason. Penn's tournament schedule is deliberately tough in order to prepare them for a run at reclaiming the Ivy League title. In 2004, the team finished fifth after having won the championship for three consecutive years.
"I think that the preseason tournaments will make the difference this year," Carr said. "My goal is not to have the best win-to-loss record [overall]; it is to win the league. We're doing everything we can to make sure that we follow through."
This weekend, the Quakers will challenge themselves at the University of Albany Tournament where they face Ohio, Albany and Iona.
"Ohio is a top-30 team that will be very difficult for any team at the tournament to beat," Carr said. "Albany is right at our level. But they're very tough, and they're tearing it up."
After Albany, the Red and Blue faces No. 5 Penn State at its home tournament as well as perennial California powerhouse Pepperdine at the Sheraton-Penn Invitational.
"I'm bringing in the fire power," Carr said. "We need to show our team where we need to be by the end of the season and we need to learn a lot."
Senior captains Michelle Kauffman and Cara Thomason, both All-Ivy League selections in 2004, bring leadership and experience to the squad.
"Michelle and Cara have really been the heart and soul of this program," Carr said.
Thomason, an outside hitter from Los Angeles, led the team with 299 kills and 452 digs last year. Kauffman, a first-team All-league selection as a middle hitter, led the Quakers with 86 blocks.
"We're trying not to reminisce about last year," Kauffman said. "We're a more mature team this year."
Penn's greatest strength, according to Carr, is its defense, led by specialists Meredith Damore, Elizabeth Hurst and Amanda Renz.
"We have three liberos." Carr said. "They all are amazing defensive players."
"We've been working really hard on blocking," Thomason said. "We're also working on controlling our side of the court."
Carr hopes that defensive strength and the tough preseason schedule will prepare the Quakers for Ivy League play.
"We're out there challenging ourselves with every single tournament. So are Yale and Cornell. I think that the three of us will be the best prepared to challenge for the Ivy League spot, because we are challenging ourselves to play at the higher level rather than getting a lot of wins on the board."
If last season is any indication, the league will be steeped in parity. In 2004, Yale, Cornell, Harvard and Princeton all tied for first place and staged a four-team playoff, which resulted in the Elis going to the NCAA Tournament.
The Quakers finished last season right behind those four teams in the standings, compiling a 7-7 record in the conference.
That record also included a 1-7 mark against the four teams tied at the top.
So in a league that appears to be this tight, the Quakers will have to hope that hard work in September translates into wins in November.
