Hoping to clinch a spot in the Ivy League postseason tournament, Penn volleyball battled in intense matchups against Brown and Yale during an action-packed Halloween weekend.
On Friday night, Penn squared up against a balanced Brown team that’s currently tied with Princeton for first place in Ivy standings. Hungry to avenge their loss in a reverse sweep to the Bears earlier this season, the Red and Blue fought to the very end but came up just short in a tough loss of 3-1.
The Quakers (10-10, 4-6 Ivy) were slow to get into the swing of things early in the match. Although Penn narrowly trailed the Bears (12-7, 7-3 Ivy) by as little as one point, Brown’s offense put the Quakers into a hole early on. In set one, the Bears launched 4-0 scoring runs on the Quakers two separate times, making it difficult for the Quakers to climb out of the deficit. Late in the set, Brown led the Quakers by as many as 10 points. A highlight for Penn was freshman middle blocker Haley Kerstetter leading the offense of the Red and Blue with four kills. Kerstetter finished the night with seven kills and three blocks, though the Quakers fell to Brown 25-15 in set one.
However, the Quakers saw momentum shift in their favor. Ready to get back to work, the Red and Blue persevered in a second set that saw 12 different ties and multiple lead changes. Both teams displayed their balanced offensive arsenal, engaging players from pin to pin. Halfway through the set, the Quakers were able to gain a lead over the Bears and, more importantly, maintained their lead until late in the set. An untimely error from the Quakers, and a challenge in favor of the Bears tied up the set at 24-24. Penn’s pin hitters weren’t going to let up that easily though, and back-to-back kills from junior outside hitter Zada Sanger and sophomore outside hitter Ellie Siskin closed out the set for the Red and Blue.
Unfortunately for the Quakers, sets three and four followed a similar pattern to the first.
Trailing early on in set three, Penn was able to gain a little bit of steam on a 6-1 scoring run that tied the set up at nine. However, Brown’s fiery offense launched a 6-0 run of their own that Penn couldn’t overcome.
With their backs against the wall, the Quakers fell flat in the fourth set, resulting in their second loss to Brown this season. Despite the loss, Siskin notched 14 kills and three blocks and sophomore outside hitter Jenna Garner recorded nine kills and 14 digs, one kill shy from her third double double this season.
“Sometimes when teams push really hard we have to learn how to push back even harder … that’s something that we can always change,” sophomore middle blocker Adell Murray said.
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Although the Red and Blue came up short against Brown, they were eager to get back to work. This was evident in their five-set victory over the Yale Bulldogs (10-8, 6-4 Ivy) on Saturday night.
Tasked with having to play on the road on Saturday, the Quakers went into the first set guns blazing. Throughout the first set, Penn saw immense success from all its offensive weapons — especially because of sophomore setter Emery Moore who dished out 50 assists in Saturday night's victory. Moore was also good for 15 digs. The dynamic Quaker offense was too much for the Bulldogs to handle.
But the Bulldogs bounced back quickly and claimed the next two sets. Starting both out strong, Yale made it hard for the Red and Blue to take back any lead Yale took. Penn lost both sets 19-25.
Still, Penn remained poised and collected, determined to claim victory over the Bulldogs, and they did just that in the last two sets. The fourth set was defined entirely by Siskin, who notched eight kills on nine attacks in that set alone, hitting an incredible (.889) hitting percentage. Siskin finished the night with 17 kills and three aces, leading her team in kills.
“We’ve been working hard to have a lot of confidence in our skills,” Siskin said. “We try to work on getting five points at a time or looking at each point individually rather than thinking of the set as a whole.”
Halfway through the fourth, the Quakers went on an 8-1 scoring run to go ahead of the Bulldogs. Penn made an early run in the fifth set too, and Yale was unable to catch up. Saturday’s victory over the Bulldogs makes for Penn volleyball’s first five-set victory this season and saw four players with double digit kills.
Looking to continue fighting for a chance in the postseason, Penn volleyball will face up next against Cornell on Friday, Nov. 7 in Ithaca, N.Y.
