It was a weekend featuring the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for Penn women’s volleyball.
Brown (4-9, 2-3 Ivy) came in confident against the Quakers on Friday after a 2-0 weekend, while Penn (10-5, 2-3 Ivy) was feeling the opposite, flustered by a recent injury to sophomore libero Addison Pollock.
“I knew this game was going to be a battle no matter what,” junior setter Emery Moore said.
Penn fiercely overcame the Bears in a reverse sweep to start their double-header weekend off strong. However, the Quakers couldn’t keep up their momentum against Yale (10-3, 4-1 Ivy), falling to the Bulldogs in a straight sweep.
Here’s a breakdown of this weekend’s double-header.
Brown goes down in a reverse sweep
A long rally ending in Brown’s favor sets the tone of the game, but a strong hit from senior outside hitter Zada Sanger matches the point.
Penn starts the set running a 6-2 rotation, giving the Quakers a stronger offense with three hitters consistently in the front row.
Throughout the beginning of the first set, Brown consistently edges ahead by one or two points, but the game generally remains quite close.
Penn calls back-to-back timeouts during the middle of the set as Brown separates itself from the Quakers. Unfortunately, the team doesn’t reset as they come off the field, as Brown continues to find holes in Penn’s defense, specifically in the deep corners, and tear them apart.
Penn is forced to call their final timeout at 13-10 in a last-ditch effort to slow Brown’s momentum and give the Quakers a chance to regroup and start playing their game. A 5-1 run ensues, but it’s too little too late, as the Quakers fall 20-25 in the first set.
Brown starts the second set off hot with an ace, kill, and forced error, putting Brown up 3-0. The Bears swing long, giving the Quakers a chance to gain some ground, but Brown quickly takes it back with a tip and block, furthering their lead to 5-1.
Penn attempts to climb back early in this second set out of a timeout with both Sanger and junior outside hitter Jenna Garner getting successful kills.
An ace from Brown pushes Penn back down, causing Brown to regain a lead, doubling Penn’s point total 10-5. However, a missed serve gives an opening to Penn, who gets two kills and tightens the score. Penn proceeds to go on an 8-2 run, forcing Brown to call a timeout as the score is tied at 12-12.
Garner gets an ace off the timeout, putting Penn in the lead for the first time today. This lead is short-lived, though, as Brown wins a joust at the net, ending Penn’s five-point scoring streak and making the score tied at 13.
The set continues back and forth, featuring long, intense rallies. The Quakers and Bears trade ace for ace. Kill for kill.
More long rallies follow a timeout from Brown, with neither team willing to give up. A hitting error from Penn gives Brown the upper hand, causing the Quakers to take a timeout in response.
However, the timeout is unable to prevent the Bears from going on a run as the Bears get a kill and a block to close out the second set at 25-22.
Brown looked to pull off their third consecutive Ivy League victory, but Penn wasn’t willing to let them win so easily.
Penn started the third set strong, getting the first point off a missed swing by Brown. The Quakers came out more aggressive with hits from some new faces such as sophomore middle blocker Haley Kerstetter and freshman hitter Pilar Kelley, building up the team’s fire.
Penn began to successfully find the deep corners and shots against Brown. Brown middle blocker Fisayo Afonja responded with big swings of her own as the Bears’ block continues to present Penn with problems as the Quakers call a timeout at 9-11.
Sanger gets two kills in a row, contributing to a 4-0 Penn run, setting the score at 13-11. Brown responds, but it’s not enough, as Sanger gets another kill, making that three in a row.
Brown calls back-to-back timeouts as they grasp at anything to lessen Penn’s energy. The Bears manage to get a swing out of their second timeout, but a kill from Garner sets the score at 17-14.
After some more back-and-forth volleying, Brown makes a attack error to put the Quakers at their first game point of the day, with a comfortable five points between them and the Bears.
The Quakers are able to close off the set 25-19 with a block from junior middle blocker Adell Murray.
Sanger starts off the fourth set with a kill, building off of the Quakers’ momentum from the previous set. The Quakers and Bears go back and forth, with Sanger reaching her 20th kill of the night, followed by an ace to grant the Quakers a 6-3 lead.
Freshman hitter Lauryn Lewis gets an ace in her first serve of the night, extending the Quakers’ lead to four points. Long rallies and big points back and forth fill this set, with each team trying to force the other to make the first mistake.
Brown is able to climb back from their deficit, tying the score at 9-9. But Penn is able to continue to force Brown to make the errors with service pressure that has not been seen much before this game.
Although Brown outside hitter Ella Holley and Afonja present some trouble, the Quakers are able to take the lead and hold onto it. Penn continuously gets Brown out of system, forcing the Bears to make errors. Brown takes their final timeout at 20-14, down by six with what looks like little hope and energy.
On an attempt to finish the set off on a bang, Sanger swings into the net, giving Brown another chance. But the Bears miss their serve, ending the fourth set at 25-17 while further fueling Penn’s momentum.
It’s the final set. First to 15 takes the match. Brown starts with the serve, but does not keep it as Murray gets a kill out of the middle to give Penn the first match point.
“We wanted to set the tone from point one in that set,” senior libero and defensive setter Elsa McDermott said.
Brown began to make changes, grasping at anything to slow the Quakers down. The Bears substitute Afonja for outside hitter Lawson Monroe, who gets a kill and an ace, putting Brown on the board 2-5.
Penn gets the ball back off Monroe’s missed serve, and Sanger capitalizes on the opportunity, getting a kill off an overpass. It's Sanger’s 23rd kill of the night as the score settles at 7-2.
Holley responds, and a back-and-forth rally ensues while both teams wait for the other to make a mistake. Brown plays scrappy, but still can’t keep up with all of Penn’s swings.
The Quakers lead 10-5 as Brown calls its final timeout, but the Bears wouldn’t give up so easily, slowly creeping back. A big block from the Bears makes it a one-point affair at 12-11, which Brown quickly ties up.
Coach Tyler Hagstrom calls another timeout trying to slow Brown down and regroup. Sanger gets a kill out of the timeout, and Brown gets called for a carry, giving Penn all the energy they need to push to 14-12.
Sanger closes out the match with a kill off of a block touch, ending her night with a career-high 25 kills as the Bears go back to Rhode Island with a snapped win streak.
Quakers stumble against Yale
The expectations were high going into Saturday’s contest against Yale.
“After yesterday’s reverse sweep we were excited to come in and keep trying to build off of what we did,” McDermott said.
However, excitement would not be enough to beat Yale.
The Bulldogs controlled the first set from start to finish, setting the tone immediately with a 2-0 lead off a Penn attack error followed by a kill.
A 4-0 run by the Bulldogs pushed the score to 8-3, forcing Penn to play catch up. Penn came ready to respond though, with a set of swings led by Garner that shrunk Yale’s lead to 8-7.
However, Yale quickly picked back up, forcing Penn into a timeout at 12-8 to strategize.
Yale continued to dominate out of the timeout as Penn struggled to find their rhythm. As rallies continue, Yale blows ahead, reaching their largest lead of the set at 23-12.
Towards the end of the set, Penn is seen picking up the pace in a 4-0 run to avoid set point. This run forces Yale into a timeout at 24-16. Penn manages to get another point on the board after the timeout but Penn isn’t able to overcome the deficit they had created. Yale’s Isabel Patterson is able to drill down a kill to secure a 25-17 victory for the Bulldogs.
The second set follows a similar trend as the first, but Penn claims the first point with a kill from Sanger.
This lead was short-lived, though, as the momentum permanently shifted when Yale’s Ava Poinsett rotated back to serve with the score tied 3-3, going on a devastating 5-0 run that completely fractured Penn’s offense.
The Bulldogs’ front row lock down the net with blocks, forcing consecutive attacking errors from Sanger and Lewis. Suddenly, the score was 8-3 and Yale was back on top.
While Sanger and Kelley picked up quick side-out kills to stop individual runs, the Quakers simply couldn’t find a response for Yale’s explosive attacks. The Bulldogs’ lead stretched out to double digits late in the set.
Just like before, Yale was able to close out the 2nd set with the same score of 25-17.
The Quakers still held out hope going into the third set after reverse-sweeping Brown on Friday. But were two reverse sweeps in two days too much to ask for?
Penn claimed the first point off a swing from junior outside hitter Ellie Siskin. Long back-and-forth rallies define the early game, and the score remains close.
Yale’s back line delivers strong blocking, which the Quakers struggle to overcome. Penn is forced to call a timeout after the Bulldogs go on a 4-0 run.
Despite the chance to regroup, Yale continues with a seven-point run, forcing Penn into another timeout at 15-8. But the Bulldogs can’t be stopped after scoring back-to-back points out of the Quakers’ timeout.
Penn subs in freshman hitter Skylar Greene to switch things up. However, she’s blocked upfront and then aced, giving Yale their 13th straight point for a 21-8 score.
Yale finally makes a serving error, leaving some room for Penn to come back. Lewis blocks upfront, putting the Quakers at double digits. However, Yale soon gets the ball back, forcing match point.
Greene keeps the game alive with a kill, making the score 24-12. However, Penn seals their own fate with a service error, ending the set 25-12.
“We learned a lot about our team this weekend and what we can do, so this week of practices will be good for us,” Moore said.
The Quakers will continue Ivy League play on the road this weekend, playing Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., on Oct. 16, before facing Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., on Oct. 17.
“We are a great team, and I know we can accomplish a lot, so I think it’s just better discipline earlier in the game that will lead us to more success going forward,” Sanger said.
