This weekend, the Penn volleyball team is hoping its opponents can win. Against Princeton, that is.
Penn and the Tigers, the two best Ivy League teams, play at Brown and Yale this weekend. For the Quakers to stay in the race for the Ivy title, Princeton (19-3, 11-0) needs to lose at least one game.
Penn (16-7, 9-2 Ivy) will take on Yale (14-6, 8-3) tonight and Brown (7-14, 5-6) tomorrow in its last two games before Princeton comes to the Palestra next Wednesday for the season finale that could decide the Ivy title.
The team's focus is not on that, however, because the Quakers know if they let up at all in the next two days, their title hopes are history.
"The Ivy standings and the title and the Princeton match are all in the back of our heads," freshman libero Madison Wojciechowski said. "Our main focus for right now is to come out strong and first beat Yale and then beat Brown."
The Bulldogs beat Penn 3-0 in their October meeting at the Palestra, handing the Quakers their second Ancient Eight loss. The team has been anxious to show what it can really accomplish ever since, and they're aware that one loss means no title chance.
"We prove something every time we hit the court," Quakers coach Kerry Carr said. "I think we know that we're the best team in the league and we prove it every time we go out there, so I think that's something we'll prove to other people too with a win over Yale and a win over Princeton."
To ensure that they don't lose to Yale a second time, the Quakers have been practicing defense that focuses on Yale's strong outside hitters, most notably Alexis Crusey. The sophomore leads the league in kills per game with 4.47.
"We know that they're going to push harder than any team we've faced recently, and we're looking forward to pushing back this time," Carr said.
The team is a different one than it was when it last faced Yale, according to Carr. She compared her young team's inexperience then to its newfound confidence coming off of seven straight wins.
The Quakers beat Brown 3-0 in their first season meeting at the Palestra. Brown presents a scrappy defense and a relentless attack, but Carr knows her team is a superior one.
"When we're on top of our game, we'll have no trouble beating a team like that. But the trouble will be coming back from a really tough match against Yale and playing that same style play the very next night."
Then again, this is what the Quakers have been waiting for.
"This is why we play volleyball, this is why we're coaches, this is why we're athletes, it's this type of intensity at the end of the season," Carr said. "And that's what we're there for, so hopefully we'll respond to the challenge."
