The Penn volleyball team has already beaten Harvard and Dartmouth. And, if they want to keep their title hopes alive, they will have to do it again this weekend.
Two weeks ago, the Quakers swept Harvard and beat a strong Dartmouth team 3-1.
"I think we should have beat Dartmouth in three the last time," freshman libero Madison Wojciechowski said. "We had a few slumps but we've worked that out. If we come out and play the way we've been playing all season we should have no problem."
The Big Green have been giving teams problems all season, though. They took both Yale and Princeton to five games. A major reason has been the strong play of hitter Sandy Barbut, who has also had some big games against the Quakers in the past. She set a career high with 25 digs at the Palestra last year.
But the Quakers were able to neutralize her in their victory earlier this season.
"They had an off passing day," coach Kerry Carr said. "So they couldn't get it to her, and she wasn't able to give us as much trouble as we thought. She is still always a threat."
Dartmouth is a strong serving team. They have three players in the top six for most service aces per game, putting even more pressure on the Quakers' new serve-receive scheme. In one of only a few mid-season changes, Carr has enlisted a pre-serve routine in which the players are constantly communicating as to whose ball it will be depending on where the serve is headed.
"There is a lot of communication before and during the serve," Carr said. "Teams that have been playing together for a while just know who is going to take the short ball and who will take the deep ball. We have freshman passers next to senior passers, so that wasn't going to work."
The Quakers know they don't have time to recover from any more losses. With five games left, another one would end their season.
"There is some more pressure now that it's coming down to the final matches," Wojciechowski said. "We just try to stay calm."
The Quakers might not need their very best for their other match this weekend.
Harvard has only two league wins and did not prove too difficult for the Quakers to defeat earlier in the season.
Even so, Carr will not allow her players to lay off.
"Just because we beat them 3-0 doesn't mean this match is over. They have worked just as hard as us in the gym, and we are going to have to come out and prove we are still better than them."
Even with a title in the balance, the Quakers don't need any extra motivation.
"It sucks to lose," Wojciechowski said. "We just want to win."
