With the chance to give her team a commanding three-point lead late in the second set on Saturday, Julia Swanson made a critical error blocking Columbia sophomore Colleen McNutt, allowing the Lions to pull within one, 21-20.
Yet on the very next play, Swanson exacted revenge. With Columbia's Monique Roberts and Nicole Goldhaber in her face, she slammed a kill off Roberts' block and crushed the Lions' hopes.
The Red and Blue easily dispatched Columbia, 3-0, less than 24 hours after losing, 3-1, to Cornell on Friday night.
Swanson starred in both matches, finishing with 27 kills and a season-high .500 hitting against Columbia (5-8, 0-4 Ivy). But her offense was not nearly enough against the stout defense of Cornell (4-9, 3-1).
Freshman middle blocker Kelly Hansen, who ranks first in the Ivy League and 21st nationally in blocks, led the Big Red with nine block assists against Penn to go with a career-high 10 kills on .350 hitting. And junior libero Megan Mushovic padded her third-in-the-nation dig total with 36 against the Quakers.
Even with Cornell's strong defense, though, Penn coach Kerry Carr felt her team let the match get away.
"We came out and we were all playing well and we were killing them," she said. "That's why it's frustrating that we lost."
The Quakers (5-10, 1-2) jumped out to an early lead against the Big Red and held on for most of the first set. But up, 18-13, the Red and Blue came unwound and dropped 10 of the next 12 points en route to a 25-22 Cornell win.
After a week of practice intended to help avoid those types of meltdowns, Carr's frustration was no surprise. She knew that her team needed to come together to beat Columbia.
"I think we could've come in here and done the same thing and lost to Columbia, but we definitely changed around some things," she said.
In addition to serving tough - they produced nine aces with just four errors on Saturday - the Quakers' ability to shut down Ivy League kills leader Amalia Viti allowed them to secure the victory.
"Our whole defense was designed around stopping her, and I think we did a good job with that," Carr said.
Viti had just 10 kills and committed 10 attack errors against Penn, but Columbia coach Jon Wilson did not pinpoint Viti's struggles - or anything else -- as the reason for the lopsided loss.
"We could've played our best game of the year and still lost to Penn," he said. "But there was no way we should've lost like we did."
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