Before Cornell clinched its third straight Ivy League championship, it battled through a tough challenge from Penn.
Following the 3-1 loss to the Big Red, the Quakers won their second match of the New York road trip on Saturday by defeating last-place Columbia, 3-0.
Before Cornell (18-8, 12-2 Ivy) won the title with a victory over Princeton on Saturday, Penn gave the Big Red all that they could handle in a match that was closer than its 3-1 (30-24, 23-30, 30-27, 30-19) margin suggests.
Game 1 was a back and forth contest before Cornell took control by scoring the final four points of the set. The Quakers (11-13, 6-7) fought back to take Game 2 however, thanks to an 8-1 run that put them ahead 24-15.
Game 3, which was the most highly contested of the night with nine ties and four lead changes, turned things back around for the Big Red.
"In the third game we were actually up, then the crowd got into it, we had a couple unforced errors and a couple bad calls by the ref," Penn coach Kerry Carr said. "That was the turning point of the match."
Carr's team never recovered from dropping the intense game three as Cornell cruised to an easy victory in game four to seal the win.
"We were in the match but they were just the better team," Carr said "They played the best defense I've seen them play in a long time."
Last year's Ivy League Player of the Year, Elizabeth Bishop, dominated the match for the Big Red registering 27 kills, 13 digs and four blocks. The senior outside hitter stepped up for her team in key situations, deflating Penn's hopes of winning.
Anna Shlimak led a balanced attack for the Red and Blue with a double-double effort of 10 kills and 23 digs.
"One of our freshman was struggling, so I switched Anna from right side hitter to outside. That change in Game 2 allowed her to have a lot of confidence and let her go up and bang some balls away," Carr said of the junior.
Penn didn't have much time to mull over the tough loss as it had to travel south to face Columbia the very next day.
Adding to the challenge, starting setter Linda Zhang suffered an injury in game four of the Cornell match, forcing sophomore Kira Campbell to step into the role.
The Quakers persevered, however, easily winning over the struggling Lions 3-0 (30-20, 30-20, 30-24).
Carr was happy that her team didn't let the loss from the previous night affect their play against Columbia (7-17, 1-13).
Laura Black was the standout performer for the Quakers on Saturday, posting a double-double with 17 kills and 10 digs. Carr said she switched Black to outside hitter in order to get her the ball more and in places where she could put it away.
"She's been our best player, absolutely no doubt about it. Being a junior, she has taken the role of leading the team down a successful path, which is good for out future," Carr said.
The immediate future for the Quakers comes Wednesday with their final match of the season against rival Princeton.
