Penn's poor play against Villanova won't cut it against Princeton.
Tomorrow at the Palestra, the Quakers volleyball team (4-6) kicks off its Ivy league season against undefeated Princeton (9-0). This will be Princeton's first Ivy League match as well.
On Wednesday, the Quakers lost to Villanova in a clean sweep. The team lacked communication, played inconsistently and seemed almost confused at times on the court.
Penn coach Kerry Carr will be hoping for a more aggressive and mentally tough approach in tomorrow night's game.
"We've been focusing on [Princeton] all week," Carr said. "It's hard not to."
For any type of success, Penn must limit its mistakes, as service errors were a culprit in its loss to the Wildcats. With just one practice before the Princeton match, senior captain Liz Hurst said that limiting her team's miscues is key.
Penn will also need to focus on stopping runs by the other team, which was a problem against the Wildcats. After jumping out to a big lead in the first game, the Red and Blue let Villanova get back in it, letting the deficit grow too large and eventually losing that game because the team could not find any rhythm and struggled throughout the rest of the match.
"We need to work on stopping [teams] earlier so we stay in the game for longer," Hurst said.
Facing the best team in the conference, Penn cannot afford to let the Tigers build up an early lead.
Mental toughness will also be extremely important against Princeton, which has had some gutty come-from-behind wins.
Hurst emphasized consistent energy as another key to her team's success.
"If you can guarantee that the energy level is constant, then everything else falls into place," Hurst said. "It's important for us to know that we have to stay at that level.
Princeton has some very strong hitters and setters and leads Penn in many important statistical categories. The Tigers are averaging 15.7 kills, 14.3 assists and 2.3 aces per game - as opposed to the Quakers' 13.4, 12.2 and 2.0, respectively.
Penn leads Princeton in one very important category, however, averaging 18.9 digs per game compared to Princeton's 16.1.
Linda Zhang, named All-Ivy last year, said that the loss to Villanova would help Penn prepare for Princeton since both teams have very good hitters.
Despite coming off a frustrating loss, the Quakers are excited to launch the Ivy season.
"The rivalry is so much stronger," Hurst said. "We want to win the Ivy championship, we don't want to come in second, we don't want to come in third. We want to win. [Conference games are] so much more intense, but also so much more fun."
