Volleyball | Penn digs a win, splits N.Y. games

With the chance to give her team a commanding three-point lead late in the second set, Penn's Julia Swanson made a critical error blocking Columbia sophomore Colleen McNutt, allowing the Lions to close the gap to 21-20.

On the next play, Swanson exacted her revenge. With Columbia's Monique Roberts and Nicole Goldhaber up high on the block, she slammed a kill off Roberts' arm and crushed the Lions' hopes of earning their second-ever volleyball victory over Penn. After a McNutt service error two plays later, Swanson served out the set behind a kill and a block by junior Elizabeth Semmens, and the Quakers silenced the Lions' roar.

Penn (5-10, 1-2 Ivy) went on to sweep Columbia (5-8, 0-4) on Saturday, giving the Quakers their first Ivy win and taking some of the sting out of Friday's 3-1 loss to Cornell.

Swanson shined in both matches with 26 total kills and a season-high .500 hitting against Columbia, but her offense was not enough against the stout defense of Cornell (4-10, 3-1). Freshman middle blocker Kelly Hansen, who leads the Ivy League in blocks and ranks 21st nationally, led the Big Red with nine block assists against Penn to go with a career-high 10 kills on .350 hitting.

Junior libero Megan Mushovic, ranked third nationally in digs, contributed 36 of her team's 81 total digs.

Despite Cornell's strong defense, Penn coach Kerry Carr felt the Quakers let the game get away.

"We came out and we were all playing well and we were killing them," Carr said. "That's why it is frustrating that we lost."

The Quakers 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, giving Cornell the 25-22 win.

After a week of practice intended to help the team avoid meltdowns like that, Carr's frustration was no surprise. She knew 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.

The Quakers sure changed their serving, cranking up their aggressiveness behind the baseline to the tune of 15 total aces this weekend. Against Cornell, their six aces were overshadowed by seven service errors, but at Columbia they had nine aces and just four errors.

In addition to serving well, the Quakers' success in shutting down Ivy League kills leader Amalia Viti was the biggest reason for their 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.

The Quakers' block was effective on Viti, but ultimately their defense neutralized her. Madison Wojchiechowski - or "Mojo," as her teammates call her - led the way with 16 digs, and Swanson added 12.

Columbia coach Jon Wilson did not pinpoint Viti's struggles as the reason for the loss. In fact, he had no idea what had happened to his team.

"I'm very puzzled about why we performed the way we did today," he said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.