Volleyball playoff at Yale

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After a thrilling 5-set win over Princeton yesterday to secure a share of the Ivy volleyball title, Penn also earned a shot at returning to the NCAA tourney for the second straight year. But since the Quakers tied Yale, they'll have a playoff match in New Haven, Conn., Sunday.

The Quakers have amassed a 0.727 (8-3) winning percentage at home this season, while going 0.533 (8-7) on the road, including a difficult California road trip early in the season. They beat Yale at the Palestra, and lost in New Haven. So why will the Quakers have to travel to Yale, where they statistically are much worse off?

According to Sarah Finney, assistant director of communications and championships at the Ivy League office, the conference rules stipulate that "the match will take place at the home site of the top-seeded team. The top-seeded team is determined by a formula which, in this year's case, makes Yale the top-seed due to the fact that Yale's win over Penn was in three sets and Penn's win over yale was in four sets."

In previous years, the Ivy Manual stipulated that the playoff game would be at a neutral, preferably Ivy League site, though the rules have changed. Finney said that due to a 4-team playoff at a neutral site in 2004, crowds were very low, and the league coaches proposed a change in the rules to help bring out more crowds to the potential playoffs. The proposal went through the League's legislative process and was approved by the Ancient Eight's athletic directors.