Search Results
Below are your search results. You can also try a Basic Search.
(11/06/99 10:00am)
Today, when the 1959 Penn football team gathers for its 40th anniversary reunion, the former players will be celebrating more than just Penn's first Ivy League championship. They will be celebrating their membership on a team that came together and, for nine games in one glorious autumn, made the nation take Penn football seriously one last time. The 1950s were rough for Penn football. The Quakers had been a national powerhouse in the '40s but struggled in the following decade while making the transition to the newly formed Ivy League. After holding their own with the likes of Michigan, Penn State, Army and Navy while leading the nation in attendance in the 1940s, Penn dropped to 14-39 between 1953 and '58, the first six years under new Ivy League restrictions. But for one magical season in 1959 everything came together on the gridiron for the Red and Blue. In the years after, Penn struggled mightily; the Quakers went 32-63-1 in the 1960s and did not win another Ivy title until 1982. For the members of the '59 team, and the fans who saw them play at Franklin Field, there was something truly special about that one winning season. "I remember just tremendous spirit and knowing I was with a group of tremendous athletes," back Peter Schantz said. Even before the season began, the team knew that 1959 just might be the year Penn football turned the corner. "Going into the season, we thought we had a good shot," quarterback Larry Purdy said. "We had done pretty well the year before [at 4-5]. When we came in as freshmen, there was the 19-game losing streak, and we finally won a couple of games then [in '58]." Penn did have one huge advantage in 1959 -- a season-opener against Lafayette, and not Penn State, as had been the case for the previous three years. "Penn had been one of the top teams in the country [in the '40s, when scheduling commitments were made], so they were playing all the big-time schools," quarterback George Koval said. "You'd play Penn State, and by the time you'd recuperate from that, you'd play Navy, and that would get you the injury report the rest of the season." But with Lafayette set to open the schedule at Franklin Field, the Quakers saw an opportunity to excel. When Penn showed up for preseason training in Hershey, Pa., many of the players were already in shape, thanks to a preseason letter drafted by end Barney Berlinger. "It said [that] we've got to be in shape when we get to Hershey, not try to get in shape at Hershey, because we've got to get the jump on the whole season if we're going to win the Ivy League championship," Berlinger said. "We had to come out of the chute real hard to beat Lafayette, Dartmouth and Princeton in quick succession to get us on our way, so I just urged them to workout heavy in July and August so that we could go whole-hog once we got going with the year." The letter worked, as a stronger Penn squad crushed Lafayette in the season opener, 26-0. The next week, Dartmouth paid a visit to Franklin Field and left with a similar result. Penn pounded the Indians, 13-0. "Dartmouth was the key game because Dartmouth was a tough team and had traditionally been a tough opponent," Schantz said. An even tougher opponent lurked at Old Nassau one week later. Penn had not beaten Princeton since 1952, when George Munger was still the coach of the Quakers. In a nationally televised game, Penn throttled the Tigers, 18-0. "One of the greatest thrills [for me] was getting a chance to play in that Princeton game, and scoring two touchdowns and intercepting a pass," Schantz said. "That's one of the highlights for me." It was one of the highlights for Penn as well. The Quakers would not win at Princeton again until 1973. Still, the '59 players knew they had a great opportunity on their hands after the triumph, sitting on a 3-0 record in mid-October. "The first couple of games, we shut people out," Koval said. "But Princeton, at Princeton, on national television, I think it sort of made all of us say, 'Hey, we've got something special.'" After whipping Brown at Franklin Field, 36-9, Penn -- two decades before the existence of I-AA football -- faced Navy, the fourth-ranked team in Division I, on a muddy day at Franklin Field. Penn shocked the Midshipmen by racing out to a 19-8 lead. Not to be denied, Navy clawed its way back, taking a 22-19 lead late in the second half. But Penn drove down the field in the fourth quarter and Ed Shaw booted a 24-yard field goal to tie the game. Navy came back down the field but Schantz picked off a pass to wrap up the surprising 22-22 tie for Penn. "That was an exciting game," Penn back David Coffin said. "It was high-scoring, back and forth, and we realized that we could play on a par with them." Maybe Penn was flying too high. Riding their best start since 1948, the Quakers came into their game against Harvard feeling invincible. "[Tying Navy] actually caused some problems because we thought we'd be able to handle Harvard fairly easily," Purdy said. "We wound up in the mud making a lot of mistakes. We weren't up for the game mentally or physically and we made a lot of mistakes, and it cost us." Still undefeated, the Quakers may have underestimated Harvard the following week. "We were flat [against Harvard] after the big [Navy] game," Coffin said. "Coach [Steve] Sebo said, 'You guys have got to get up because Harvard has come to play.' And we just couldn't seem to get out of first gear." Penn's problems that Saturday started when Koval suffered a concussion in the first half, and ended in a lackluster 12-0 Quakers loss to the Crimson. "I can't remember much about the Harvard game," Koval said. "Somewhere along the line I got a concussion, and I don't recall the game, don't recall anything that happened. All I remember is looking up at the clock, and saying to the trainer while sitting on the bench, 'That can't be the score.' I saw 12-0 up there and said, 'That can't be the score because we're undefeated.' Other than that, I really have no recollection of the Harvard game." Even those Quakers without concussions had no problem putting the Harvard game behind them, though. Sebo and his staff rallied the troops in the practices that followed, making sure that Penn would be ready for a visit from Yale the following week. The Quakers' senior leadership also helped a great deal in the week that followed. "We felt we were upset by a team we should have beaten," Schantz said. "We had some tremendous leaders. Guys like Barney Berlinger, Jon Greenawalt, Jack Hanlon. Everyone wanted to play really hard for Steve Sebo, and we came back the next week, beat Yale, and we were back on track." Coming into their November 7 matchup, the Elis had allowed just 12 points for the entire season and had lost only to Dartmouth. Penn changed all that, destroying Yale 28-12 at Franklin Field. Penn could have had another letdown game the next week at Columbia, but the Quakers had learned from their mistakes, and thrashed the Lions 24-6. This left Penn in a first-place tie with Dartmouth. After losing the early season game to the Quakers, the Indians had not lost again in the Ancient Eight. A scoreless tie with Brown gave Dartmouth a 5-1-1 record when they wrapped up their schedule on November 21. To win the Ivy League title, 5-1 Penn would have to beat Cornell at Franklin Field on Thanksgiving Day. Entering the season, Sebo had compiled an 11-34 record, and 1959 was the last year of his contract. Many of the Quakers believed that his job could be saved with an Ivy title, and now Penn had a chance to achieve just that. More than just a championship seemed to be on the line, although it appeared that Sebo's job may have already been saved by the strong season -- a season whose results had already resulted in multiple goal posts being tossed into the Schuylkill River. "People were tearing down goal posts after every victory," Koval said. "They were wooden goal posts so people would just snap them off, carry them over and throw them in the Schuylkill." The question was whether the Quakers would provide an opportunity for the Franklin Field faithful to tear down the goal posts one more time. With two minutes to play in the third quarter and Penn trailing Cornell 13-0, it looked like the answer would be no. But Koval threw a quick touchdown pass, and the Quakers had visions of an Ivy title dancing in their eyes again. "On the scoreboard, it didn't look too great for us," Schantz said. "But I anticipated we were going to come back." Just as soon as hope had sprung again, it looked like the party would be quashed once more for Penn, as the Quakers faced fourth-and-16 at the Cornell 25, down by six in the fourth quarter. The Red and Blue needed a miracle. They got exactly that. Under pressure, Koval lofted a desperation pass toward the end zone. "Koval threw me a pass in the end zone," Berlinger said. "I jumped as high as I could in the air and caught the pass and came down. The thing I remember was the cannon going off [for a Penn touchdown] because I had tried to keep my feet in bounds. I read the account of George Koval and he said that he was getting rushed real heavy, and he just threw the ball in my general direction, and he never saw me catch the ball, all he heard was the cannon. So the cannon put us up 14-13. After that second touchdown, all the wind came out of Cornell's sails." Crushed, Cornell raised the white flag and allowed two more touchdowns before time expired, giving Penn one of the hardest-fought 28-13 victories ever. "The key to the comeback was George and his passing," Purdy said. "He was able to complete some key passes. He brought us back." Forty years later, Koval can only joke about one of his greatest days on the field. "I guess I had a half-decent day," Koval said. "Cornell was one of my favorite teams and for some odd reason, I did well against them. That was a pretty good game. I didn't have a good first half, but [Sebo] stuck with me, and we came back and won." Fortunes were not as good for Sebo. It turned out that the Penn administration had made a final decision to fire the coach before the season had started, and there was no way to save his job. Despite a squad loaded with returning lettermen in 1960, new head coach John Stiegman could only pilot Penn to a 3-6 record. It would be nine years before Penn finished as high as third in the standings and 23 seasons and four coaches before the Quakers won their next title, under Jerry Berndt, in 1982. The players who battled so valiantly in 1959 for Steve Sebo provided a bridge between Penn's years of big-time football and its Ivy League years, a last appearance in the national spotlight and the beginning of what eventually would become a tradition of winning for Penn in the Ivies. They have more than earned the right to celebrate together today, and their magical season will remain one to celebrate well into the future.
(11/05/99 10:00am)
After squandering a 2-0 lead against La Salle on Tuesday night at the Palestra, the Penn volleyball team did not practice Wednesday, taking what Quakers setter Amy Schutte called "a mental day." Penn (12-12) has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on more than one occasion this season, but never on such a grand scale as on Tuesday's Senior Night. The Quakers stood three points from a 3-0 victory and were serving to the Explorers (15-13) when the roof fell in on the Red and Blue. Penn lost the match in an excruciating 15-12 fifth game. "I think that we've taken everything out of that match that we can," Schutte said. "We put the rest behind us." Having done so, all is well again for the Quakers. Practice went well yesterday; today, Penn heads to Fairfield, Conn., to visit Sacred Heart (3-31). At one point this season, the Pioneers had lost 20 consecutive matches, including two 3-0 decisions to Long Island, whom the Quakers destroyed in October. Penn will stay in Connecticut on Saturday, traveling to New Haven for the Yale Tournament, where, ironically, it will not battle the Elis. The Quakers will, however, face a team that beat them last year, in the form of severely weakened Loyola (6-21). Penn will also battle Manhattan (13-9) at Payne Whitney Gym. The Jaspers may prove the most difficult opponent for the Red and Blue. Manhattan took a game in a loss to Princeton -- the top team in the Ivies -- and beat LIU 3-0. The Jaspers also handled Columbia with ease, but so did the Quakers. "Manhattan is pretty tough," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "Loyola beat us last year -- we were better than them, but it was early in the year [when the Quakers struggled to open Major's tenure at Penn]." The Quakers will use this weekend's matches as a tune-up for the Ivy League Tournament on more than one level. Not only will Penn try to work out some kinks in its game, the Quakers will empty the bench, making sure the entire team is rust-free and ready for Penn's first-round Ivy matchup with Harvard. Penn shocked the Crimson in the teams' regular-season meeting, dealing Harvard one of its two Ivy losses. "Our main focus is to pull everything together," said Schutte, the regular backup who will almost certainly start tonight against the Pioneers. "I love to be out there, and everyone accepts me like I'm the normal starter. It makes everything else worthwhile when I do get to play." While Schutte will enjoy this weekend's opportunity, she will not be taking over for starter Jodie Antypas. Performances turned in this weekend and in next week's practices will likely have some influence on Major's decisions on playing time at other positions. "It's all up to Kerry," Penn co-captain and middle blocker Karin Witte said. "I leave it up to her. We're really looking forward to this weekend." Penn's freshmen have really been the players who have caused any and all of the possible struggles for playing time. Over the course of the season, Major has said, regarding many a freshman, "I've got to find a way to get her out there." Stacey Carter has been invaluable to the Quakers in the front row, providing highly efficient play at all three front positions, pushing everyone for time. Michelle Kliszewski is now splitting time with senior K.C. Potter at outside hitter. Shayna Higa is second on the Quakers in service aces, but her defensive specialist spot is very crowded. Whatever happens this weekend, the objective for the Quakers remains team-based. They must prepare for the Ivy League championship and still must figure out how to win three games in each match. Penn has a lot to build on from the near-win on Tuesday against the Explorers. "It was the best defense we've played," Major said. "And we have to keep the individuals from getting down? [This weekend] is a tune-up for Ivies. We need to get the pieces all in order so that we have no weaknesses. It should be a fun relaxing, good hard-working weekend, and then three good practices, a long bus ride and Harvard."
(11/03/99 10:00am)
Penn opened up a 2-0 lead but crumbled as the Explorers won 3-2. Last night, the three seniors on the Penn volleyball team -- K.C. Potter, Kristel Weaver and Karin Witte -- were honored prior to the Quakers' match against La Salle. Their final contest at the Palestra started with a bang but ended with a whimper as the Explorers came from behind to defeat Penn, 3-2. The three seniors opened the match together in the Red and Blue's front row, and the Quakers were clearly invigorated. "We came out strong," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "It was the strongest start we've had to any game." Still, La Salle (15-13) stayed close and took a 14-13 lead late in the game. Throughout this season, Penn (12-12) has taken the lead only to see its opponent come back to reach 15 points first, but this time, it was the Quakers that came back. La Salle's Autumn Krauss had a chance to serve out the game and the Quakers breathed a sigh of relief when they watched the serve sail just long. On the next ball, the Explorers were not able to surmount an attack. Weaver then gave Penn a 15-14 lead with a kill into the La Salle backcourt. Stephanie Horan's next serve sailed wide but Potter's kill on the subsequent ball gave Penn another chance. Kelly Szczerba's block -- one of her team-leading five solo blocks on the night -- wrapped up the 16-14 Penn win. Clearly rattled, the Explorers fell behind 12-3 in the second game. At that point, La Salle coach Jason Klotkowski called time-out. At that point, the match started to turn around. La Salle scored eight of the next 10 points before Penn finished off a 15-11 victory on the best of Horan's 20 kills. The sophomore dove with the intention of simply digging the ball, but got it high enough into the air to float over the net, where it bounced into the La Salle front row. "We came out really fired up for this match and really wanted to take a win for our last match," Potter said. "But we let them back into it in the third game." Even though Penn had a 2-0 lead in games, the momentum had shifted. La Salle came out in the third game and raced to a 7-1 lead as the Quakers felt they had the match in hand. "That was the key to the match," Klotkowski said. "We were up 7-1 and it progressed from there. They got it within one, and if one ball bounced the other way, they probably would have beaten us in three, and it would have been a short night for them." Playing with as much heart as they have all season, the Quakers came back to eventually tie the score of the third game at 10. The Explorers answered back, taking a 13-10 lead, and then a 14-12 lead. Penn got to within one point and had a chance to tie after Potter's kill, one of her final 15 at the Palestra. After a sideout, Horan was a little bit too aggressive and hit the ball wide. La Salle had a 15-13 win. "[The] third game was the reason why we lost the match," Major said. "[In the] fourth and fifth [games], La Salle had all of their confidence back, and we had lost some confidence, and it's a struggle to get that going again. I truly believe that the match was lost in the third game. The fifth game we played all heart and all that, but it's just luck by then." Penn lost the fourth game handily, falling behind 10-0 before mounting a mini-comeback. The Explorers took the game 15-4. The Quakers headed to a fifth game for the first time since September 18, when they beat Cal State-Fullerton in San Francisco. Still on a roll, La Salle jumped all over the Red and Blue, taking a 5-0 lead. In the rally point system, Penn got on the scoreboard when Szczerba earned a sideout for the Quakers. Melissa Hodge's wide attempt for the Explorers made it 5-2, but La Salle then earned a sideout to go up 6-2. That's when the decisive game really turned. Horan ripped a kill to make the score 6-3, or so everyone at the Palestra thought. The referees conferred and ruled that Szczerba had touched the net, resulting in a violation, a sideout and a point for La Salle, making the margin 7-2. "That's a huge momentum break for us," Klotkowski said. "Any time you can get ahead that much in rally [scoring], you put the opposing team on the run. They were playing a lot better volleyball than us the end of the match [after La Salle went up 7-5], but it was just too far to come back." But did Szczerba really touch the net? It's a call that will certainly haunt the Penn seniors for some time, if not the rest of the team. "That's a tough call for them," Klotkowski said. "I didn't see [Szczerba touch the net]." The teams went back and forth after that point, with La Salle eventually taking a 13-6 lead. In the teams' previous meeting, in September at the Colgate Tournament, Penn fell behind 14-7 before winning 16-14 in the fifth game. The Quakers got as close as 14-12, but La Salle closed out the match, winning 14-16, 11-15, 15-13, 15-4, 15-12. The seniors performed well for Penn last night. Potter had 15 kills, Weaver had 10 and Witte had eight to go with her three block assists. The statistical performance of note, though, belonged to Jodie Antypas, whose 59 assists, one short of a career high, moved her into fourth place on the Penn all-time list. "It's not really something I was thinking about," Antypas said. "I didn't even really know about it until I read the paper this morning. I'm happy about it but I don't know if that can quite overcome the loss. "We've played a lot of matches like that as a team, and we have to get from playing really well and losing to playing really well and winning."
(11/03/99 10:00am)
The U.S. Fencing Assoc. picked the Penn senior as its male athlete of the year. Penn fencer Cliff Bayer, who is taking the year off to train for the 2000 Olympics, received yet another accolade this week. Bayer was named the United States Fencing Association's Male Athlete of the Year for his history-making achievements in 1999. In August, he won the gold medal at a World Cup event in St. Petersburg, Russia, becoming the first American ever to win gold at a World Cup event. To win the gold medal, Bayer had to go through 1997 and 1998 world champion Sergei Goloubitsky, the No. 1 foilist in the world in the quarterfinals. He routed the Ukranian, 15-6. Bayer defeated 1995 world champion Dimitri Chevtchencko 15-10 in the finals at St. Petersburg. The performance in Russia moved Bayer to No. 14 in the world rankings entering this year's World Championships, which began yesterday in Seoul, South Korea. Bayer took home a bronze medal in May from the World Cup event in Espinho, Portugal. The Wharton student also placed well in other World Cup events this year, finishing seventh at Haifa, Israel, in September, and 13th at Valencia, Venezuela, in June. Of the 45 medals won by the United States in World Cup history, Bayer now holds four -- he has a silver and another bronze in addition to the ones he has captured this year. Bayer, who was also the USFA's Male Athlete of the Year in 1995 and 1997, will now be considered for the United States Olympic Committee's Sportsman of the Year program. The USFA gave out its other annual awards this week. Andrea Ament, a high honor student at Hawken High School in Gates Mills, Ohio, was named the USFA's Female Athlete of the Year after she became the first fencer in the history of the World Under-17 Championships to win medals with two different weapons. She took bronze with both foil and epee at the U-17 and U-20 championships in March at Keszthely, Hungary. The 1999 World University Games team was named the USFA's Team of the Year.
(11/02/99 10:00am)
In their final ivy League weekend, the Quakers came away unscathed. NEW YORK -- This past weekend was supposed to be a look into the future of Ivy League volleyball. Penn was to visit Cornell, a program with a first-year coach, on Friday. On Saturday, the Quakers were to visit Columbia, the perpetually forward-looking doormat of the Ivy League and a squad boasting no seniors. Instead, the weekend turned into a preview of tonight's Senior Night as Penn's veterans made important contributions to spark the Quakers to a weekend sweep in the Empire State. At Columbia, Penn (12-11, 3-4 Ivy League) seemed to be headed down an unpleasant and all-too-familiar road. After taking a 14-12 lead on the Lions (14-9, 1-6), Penn dropped four straight points to lose the game 16-14. "We are struggling experience-wise at finishing off games," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "But we're getting better at the close ones, and if we lose a close one and come back, we're doing better." Penn certainly is doing better. The surprising first-game triumph for Columbia -- which has won just one Ivy match in two years -- could have served as a confidence booster for the Lions. Instead, it worked as a wake-up call for the Quakers. "The only thing the first game did was make Penn start playing," Columbia coach Carolyn Elwood said. "I don't think they played their game the first game but Penn really came out stronger after that first game, and that made a big difference." Keying the turnaround for the Quakers was senior K.C. Potter. The outside hitter made her final regular season Ivy League match one to remember, igniting the Red and Blue as soon as she stepped off the bench. "It means a lot, these last few weeks," Potter said. "It comes down to crunch time and you know that every time you're out on the court is a golden moment. You have to take advantage of it and play with your heart." After fellow senior Karin Witte's kill secured a sideout to open the second game, Potter put on a show, giving Penn a 2-0 lead with two impressive kills. By the time the night was over, Potter tallied 17 kills. The former captain of the Quakers made only one error on her 30 attempts, converting for a .533 hitting percentage. She also came up with 14 digs against the Lions and Penn cruised the rest of the night, taking the match 14-16, 15-5, 15-10, 15-7. "I felt I knew where the holes were, and I was getting the sets that allowed me to place them there," Potter said. "I was just trying to remain aggressive throughout the whole match." Those sets came from sophomore Jodie Antypas, whose 60 assists matched a career high set in last year's Ivy Tournament against Dartmouth. Antypas now has 1,600 assists in her career. With 31 assists tonight against La Salle (14-13), she can move into fourth place on Penn's all-time assists list, passing Fran Kaufer (1,604) and Tracey Clark (1,631). Antypas also led Penn with 18 digs on Saturday. She hit .545 with six kills. On Friday at Cornell, she recorded 36 assists in the Penn victory. Potter was also active against the Big Red. After Penn won the first two games, 15-10, 15-7, the Quakers dropped the third, 15-7. Potter came off the bench for the fourth game, had four kills and led the Red and Blue with a .333 hitting percentage as Penn took the final game 15-11. Major said that Cornell is a young and hard-playing team. "It was really a test for us to come out strong and stay strong." Particularly important in maintaining Penn's strength in both victories were the Quakers' blockers. Penn outblocked the Big Red 7-0. Even though Columbia had a 9-8 blocking advantage on the Quakers on Saturday, the presence of Penn's blockers altered the Lions' attack. Kelly Szczerba and Stacey Carter led the Quakers against Columbia, each with four block assists. The victories, combined with other results from around the Ivy League this weekend, put Penn into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Ivy standings with Yale and Dartmouth, who both defeated Penn this season. Because of that, Penn receives the sixth seed in the tournament and will face Harvard in the first round. Penn shocked the Crimson with one of their only two league losses earlier this season at the Palestra. "The one thing about the Ivy Tournament is that you can lose every game during the regular season, but it's definitely going to help us to be seeded higher," Szczerba said. "But we've played all the teams in the Ivies now. We know what they can do, we know what we can do." Penn has not only faced all of the Ivy teams, but tonight's opponent, the Explorers, as well. The Quakers defeated La Salle 16-14 in the fifth game of their match at the season-opening Colgate Tournament. "There's no other team that's closer to us -- maybe Drexel," Major said. "We have to play our best all the time to beat this team. If we come out slow, they'll beat us. But with Senior Night and all, I think we'll be up for it."
(10/29/99 9:00am)
The Penn volleyball team must love this time of year. There's the crisp fall air, the turning of the leaves -- and Columbia and Cornell on the schedule. The Quakers (10-11, 1-4 Ivy League) have never lost to the Lions (14-8, 1-4), and they have not fallen to the Big Red (7-10, 1-4) since 1993. Last season, the Red and Blue's only Ivy League victories came against these two weakest links of the Ivy chain. That does not mean that either squad should be taken lightly. The Quakers cannot afford to do that with any opponent, especially after Tuesday night's surprise drubbing by Stony Brook in the Sea Wolves' first-ever visit to the Palestra. "It was really a slap in the face to us that we cannot just go out and play lightly at all," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "We are not that good a team to sit back and just have an off day. We have to be at our highest level for every point or things fall apart really quickly." That is exactly what happened against the Sea Wolves. Penn took a 13-10 lead, then seemed to relax a little bit. After that, Stony Brook outscored the Quakers 35-6 for the rest of the match. Tuesday's loss was perhaps even more demoralizing for the Quakers than their loss a week ago to Princeton. In that match, the Red and Blue failed to hold both a 14-10 first-game lead and a 7-0 second-game lead, falling in a three-game sweep. This week, the Quakers have been working hard in practice to make sure that there is no repeat of those performances in Ithaca, N.Y., tonight and in New York tomorrow afternoon. "It's all about the faith and confidence," Major said. "And about not losing the faith in ourselves because of a really hard loss. That's what we're trying to focus on." If the Quakers can focus on their own play and beat both of their opponents this weekend, they will have a 3-4 record in the Ancient Eight, which would likely be good for the sixth seed in the Ivy Tournament. If Dartmouth, currently 2-3 in league play, falls to both Brown and Yale this weekend, the Quakers could claim the fifth seed, and would likely square off with Yale in the first round. One loss for Penn would likely relegate the Red and Blue to the seventh seed, while two defeats would guarantee eighth place in the league, forcing Penn to face Princeton, Harvard or defending champion Brown in the first round. Those three teams all stand at 4-1 in Ivy play and would all present immediate challenge s to the Quakers. While Major remained unmoved in her opinion that this weekend's matches do not absolutely have to be won, as "nothing matters until the first two days of the [Ivy] tournament," her goals for the team have changed for this weekend from past matches this season. "I haven't focused too much on winning and losing," Major said. "We've been 'have fun, play well, come together, play great defense.' No, this weekend, the most important thing to do is get point 15 on the board three times each match. If we don't do it, we'll come back to practice and learn to do it again, and hopefully get it together by tournament time." Whenever the Quakers do "get it together," it's fairly certain that they will be an important force to be reckoned with. So far this season, it has been evident that Penn only plays at two levels -- Ivy Championship level or Columbia level. The Lions, who are 0-25 against the Quakers all-time, scored their first Ivy victory in two years last Friday when they defeated the Big Red. It may be tough for Penn to take the Lions seriously, but to be successful, they must learn their lesson from Tuesday's loss to Stony Brook. "Columbia is a little harder to get psyched up for," Major said. "But they are good this year and they did beat Cornell. I think we'll see that with the first couple of points. If they don't see that now, they'll see it [tomorrow] afternoon, and how they rebound from that is going to be interesting. I've prepared them as much as possible and hope that they take it to heart." Penn will not need similar convincing to deal with the Big Red, who proved somewhat tougher than Columbia last season, even though Penn defeated both teams 3-0. Under new coach Christie Jackson, the Big Red have played much stronger defense this season, and middle blocker Robin Moore is one of the Ivy's best.
(10/28/99 9:00am)
Senior Joe Walland, a mobile 5'11" quarterback, has helped make the Elis into an Ivy force. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. If you want proof of that, just look at Yale quarterback Joe Walland. At an unimposing 5'11", Walland has gained a reputation as one of the scrappiest dogs in the Ivy League football yard. His play has carried the Yale offense this season, leading the Elis to a 5-1 start, their best opening since their auspicious 8-1 opening to their last Ivy title campaign in 1989. Yale's five-game winning streak is also their first such spurt in 10 years. "He's been extremely important," Yale coach Jack Siedlecki said. "He's an integral part of everything we're doing [and] understands our offense better than any kid I've ever coached." Not only does Walland understand the offense, but he is incredibly accurate. The senior has thrown 74 completions on 128 attempts this season, for a mark of 57.8 percent. Most importantly, though, Walland has completed nine touchdown passes while throwing just one interception. "[Accuracy has] been one of his great strengths and one of the reasons we've been real competitive with him at quarterback," Siedlecki said. "We led the nation in turnover ratio last year, which is a combination of offense and defense, but it's easy when your quarterback's not making a lot of mistakes." Another thing that helps Walland to excel is his ability to run. He is Yale's second-leading rusher this year and has become enough of a threat that his scrambling has become Yale's "draw play," according to Siedlecki. "It just brings another strength to my game," Walland said. "It gives me an ability that if I have a heavy pass rush against me, I can scramble, and it's a good quality to have. If you sit back in the pocket you're going to get hit a lot, and I'm not the biggest guy, so I've got to get away from those big guys rushing at me." Walland has scrambled for three touchdowns this season. His longest run was a 22-yard touchdown scamper two weeks ago against Dartmouth. "Even when you think you have the pocket collapsed, he finds a way to get out of it," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "He tucks it and runs, or he ducks under the rush and makes a positive play." As a scrambler and a small quarterback, Walland might draw comparisons to Doug Flutie. But as a scrambler and a southpaw, Walland's hero is Steve Young. His nickname, however, harkens to a much less mobile port-sider who led the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1980s. "I got my nickname when I was about two years old and it's stuck with me ever since," Walland said. "I got it in a weird situation. I used to carry around this little red bat and hit things with it. Someone said, 'That kid's going to be a little boomer.' So I got it from that." Hailing from the suburbs of Cleveland, "Boom" never was a big fan of Esiason, and Walland's play has never resembled the Monday Night Football commentator's style. On his high school team, Walland was part of a two-quarterback rotation with current Penn wide receiver Jason Battung, who did play more like Esiason. "He was kind of the dropback quarterback," Walland said. "And I was more of the bootleg, rollout kind of running quarterback. I'm not facing up against him but he is on the other team and you want to play good against your buddies." Playing a good game against Battung won't be Walland's only motivation this Saturday at the Yale Bowl. At 2-1 in the Ivies, the Elis are one of five teams in the league with just one loss. To beat Penn, Walland will need to have a good showing on Saturday. The Quakers bring a formidable defense and it is certain that they will be keying on the Elis quarterback. "I think his performance is crucial," Siedlecki said. "When he hits on all cylinders like last week, we scored the first four times we have the ball. He's got to have that kind of performance. Our biggest concern is that Penn has a tremendous pass rush and they're a great defensive team." At Yale, it often seems like the most important thing is The Game, the annual battle with Harvard at the close of each season. For Walland, this year's edition will only be important if something else is on the line. "People say, 'Oh, last year we beat Harvard,' and that's a great accomplishment," Walland said. "And that's great for the alumni because they make that game a big deal, but for the players, you don't have anything to prove from that. The only way to prove you have a good year is to win the championship and have that ring on your finger. And this being the last chance for me to get it, I'm going to try my best." To get to the championship, Walland and the Elis will have to go through the guys with the rings already on their fingers on Saturday.
(10/27/99 9:00am)
In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, Stony Brook defeated the Quakers in three straight games. The Penn volleyball team will have better nights than it had last night against Stony Brook. Namely, every night before last night and after it. Things could not have gone worse for the Quakers (10-11) last night as they dropped a 3-0 decision in their first-ever meeting with the Sea Wolves (15-11), who are in their very first year in Division I. "I don't know [what happened]," Penn sophomore outside hitter Stephanie Horan said. "We came out not as fired up as we wanted to be and we couldn't find what we needed, that one thing that we needed to pick us up, and that really hurt us because as much as we wanted to win, we were missing something, and we just couldn't play better." Last night's defeat was even worse for the Quakers than Friday's 3-0 loss to Princeton, a match in which the Quakers failed to hold a 14-10 lead in the first game and a 7-0 lead in the second game. "This is definitely [worse]," said Penn co-captain Karin Witte, who played last night in her first match in a week after spraining her ankle against Long Island. "[Against] Princeton, at least we played aggressively but failed to close the match. This, we lost our intensity and we didn't recover, we didn't adjust." Penn was a little bit sluggish to open the match but came back to take a 13-10 lead in a see-saw game with the Sea Wolves. At that point, Stony Brook coach Theresa Tiso called for a crucial timeout. "I don't know that it was anything I said," Tiso said. "But we've been talking about playing with heart, with desire and that's really all we talked about. Just getting out there, getting the ball in the court, make the plays that we need to make." If the words in the timeout did not make a difference, then something simply clicked for the Sea Wolves, who then scored 35 of the next 41 points to turn their 13-10 first-game deficit into a 15-13, 15-4, 15-2 triumph. Almaris Miranda led Stony Brook with 18 kills, but the best performance of the night was turned in by Sea Wolves freshman Alisse Gossett, who had 11 kills while leading the visitors with 14 digs, two block solos and three block assists. The only Stony Brook player not from New York State, Gossett -- who hails from Cedar, Texas -- frequently quashed what could have become spurts of Penn momentum with her solid play in the middle, often driving the Quakers even deeper into their doldrums. "[Gossett] made a big difference tonight," Tiso said. "She ran the middle really well. She dug well, hit well, blocked well [and] almost had a career game." As the match wore on, Stony Brook got better and better, hitting a very solid .250 in the second game and an unbelievable .462 in the final game. The Quakers, meanwhile, saw their play deteriorate as things progressed, hitting an anemic minus-.049 in the second game. The 15-2 third game marked Penn's worst loss in a game against any opponent this season. In each of the final two games, Penn was blitzed early, as the Sea Wolves opened with 11-1 runs. Six Quakers had negative hitting percentages. Only Horan had more than 10 kills for Penn, tallying 11. Sophomore setter Jodie Antypas, averaging 34.4 assists per match coming into last night, registered only 19. The Sea Wolves outdug the normally steady Red and Blue defense 58-44, as Penn defenders dove for -- and often missed -- balls that are usually routine plays for them. Old problems resurfaced as well for the Quakers. Penn committed seven service errors while picking up just one ace, on an Alexis Zimbalist serve. Horan, whose early part of the season was marked by service problems, had three service errors, and Penn scored just two points on her serve for the match. "To not play at our level and give them a good fight is really disappointing," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "I let them know that if we play this way the rest of the season, we're going down." The task now for the Quakers is to rebound, and to not go downhill for the rest of the season heading into the Ivy League Tournament. Penn is in some ways still not mentally over its loss to Princeton on Friday, and last night's loss does not help matters. "All around we did not play well," Major said. "You have to learn from it and figure it out before you put it behind you, and figure it out before you can fix it. They have to figure out what they did wrong and not do it the next time. And it's not about your lucky pair of socks or the way you sit on one side of the van or the other, it's about preparing mentally to be strong all the time."
(10/26/99 9:00am)
When the Princeton volleyball team visited the Palestra this weekend, it marked the 46th meeting of the Quakers and the Tigers, easily making Princeton the opponent that Penn has faced the most in the program's 26-year history. Tonight, Stony Brook (14-10), a program in its first year at the Division I level, comes to Philadelphia to battle the Quakers (10-10). While the matchup won't be quite as intriguing as the traditional Penn-Princeton rivalry, the fact that this is the first-ever meeting between the two teams should provide a little drama. Intrigue has been just about the only predictable element of Stony Brook's season. The Sea Wolves have been surprisingly strong, winning 14 of their first 24 matches as a Division I program. "It's been exciting," Stony Brook coach Theresa Tiao said. "It's a real exciting transition for us. I love the competition, but in the same vein, it's been difficult preparing for the teams." Preparation cannot be too difficult for Stony Brook. The Sea Wolves have a better record against Ivy League teams this season (2-3) than the Quakers (1-4). "I feel that we have good defense right now and we're scoring a lot against the Ivy League teams," Tiao said. "So I'm confident that we'll be able to play with Penn and play a good game." The two teams are fairly equal. Both are 1-3 among their common Ivy opponents. Both defeated Harvard in four games and lost to Brown and Princeton in three and both teams also lost to Yale. In other matches, Penn fell to Dartmouth and Stony Brook beat Columbia. Of course, Penn's loss to the Tigers on Friday was no typical three-game sweep. The Quakers battled hard and outplayed the visitors from Old Nassau for most of the match but came up short on the scoreboard. It will be difficult for the Red and Blue to have the same drive against the Sea Wolves. "We'd practice for Stony Brook like we did for Princeton," Penn setter Jodie Antypas said. "We'll have to focus on playing each point intense and not stopping until we get to 15. We have to know that it's under our control and that we don't have to give it to the other team." The focus for tonight's match will certainly be different. Penn's battle with Princeton was as much about frustrating the Tigers as it was about building up the Quakers' level of play. Stony Brook, meanwhile, offers no longstanding rivalry -- there is no message to be sent to the rest of the Ivy League by winning. Tonight, then, Penn will be able to work on its own game against a team that is on the same level as its Ancient Eight competition. That is something that last Tuesday's opponent, Long Island, did not offer the Quakers. "Our goal right now is to win, no matter who's on the other side of the net, to prepare ourself for [the Ivy Tournament]," Penn defensive specialist Kai Gonsorowski said. "Every point we play goes to the end of the season and then we can fix anything no matter who we're playing." For the Quakers, there is still also the matter of bouncing back mentally and physically from a very emotional and hard-fought defeat at the hands of their biggest rivals. "[We have to] stay focused, and know that it's not over," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "Having a tournament, we know we can come back. This team does a good job of bouncing back, like [after] the Dartmouth loss." Penn's only Ivy victory this season, the 3-1 triumph over Harvard, came the day after losing a tough match to the Big Green. In fact, in the 10 days since that loss, Penn has played its best ball of the season, winning two of three matches and playing at or above the level of two of the Ivy League's best teams, Harvard and Princeton. "I think we're just focused on getting better," Major said. "It doesn't matter who is across the net. Let's just work on ourselves and overcome any close games that we might have right now and push on to point 15." Against Princeton, Penn did that, but lost the first game 18-16. If the Quakers have learned from that experience, then when 14 appears on the scoreboard under "Pennsylvania" tonight, 15 will be quicker to follow.
(10/25/99 9:00am)
If there is such a thing as karma, if there is a mystical aspect of sports, then Penn is in trouble, because the gods that inhabit its most sacred athletic temple, the Palestra, have turned to the dark side, to Princeton. In February, it was men's basketball; on Friday night, it was volleyball. The Quakers (10-10, 1-4 Ivy League) dropped a 3-0 decision to Princeton (16-5, 4-1) that was really more like a 3-2 match. It wasn't just simply that the Quakers lost that was eerie, it was the way in which they lost. For the first time since early in the season, the Red and Blue started a match on top of their game, thoroughly controlling the flow of play to take a 14-10 lead, capped by a block by Kelly Szczerba, who came back from a pinched meniscus to play impressively against the Tigers. "After the Harvard match [a surprising 3-1 Penn win a week ago], we realized how we could play and we showed that we were a good team," said Penn setter Jodie Antypas, who had 47 assists against the Tigers. "We did a good job of coming out strong and we knew what to expect and what kind of defense they were going to run, and that really helped us." But Penn was unable to close the issue, despite having three chances to do so. A series of misplays by the Quakers soon gave the Tigers a 15-14 lead. Stephanie Horan's kill, one of her 13 on the night, kept the Quakers alive. Penn, however, came right back to take another shot at game point, as Stacey Carter's floater bounced into the Princeton frontcourt for one of her 13 kills, giving Penn a 16-15 lead. The teams traded sideouts but Princeton finally strung together three points on Erika Hansen's serve, the last of which fell to the floor after a series of thrilling saves by the Penn defense. Princeton had a 1-0 lead in games, and as they have for most of the season, the Quakers crumbled then and there. "We had a choice," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "We talked between games and I said that you can fold up now and go home or fight. We had to prove that [first game] wasn't a fluke." Had the Quakers folded, had they gone down 15-3 in the second game, no one would have left the Palestra with a knot in his or her stomach. But that's not at all what happened, as Penn raced to a 7-0 advantage in the second game. "They really wanted to come back and bring it to us in the second game," Princeton outside hitter Michelle Buffum said. "We didn't want to let them get control, but we let up a little bit in the beginning and it showed." The Penn band played the theme from SportsCenter and the 178 in attendance at the Palestra sounded like many more. It almost felt like a faint version of the chant ordinarily reserved for Dan Solomito -- who was sitting with some teammates in Section 121 -- was ringing around the rafters. Princeton got one point and nothing seemed so bad. A second point was also quite run-of-the-mill. The Tigers' third point was a serve that somehow bounced off of Michelle Kliszewski's steady hands in the wrong direction. A little later, Penn led 9-5, and a serve from Princeton's Sabrina King that was on its way out of bounds struck Kai Gonsorowski's leg and bounced to the ground, a completely freakish play that cut Penn's lead to 9-6. The Palestra was silent. The Tigers led 10-9 when Penn finally recovered, but the damage was done as a game that seemed surely in hand was suddenly close. "We're still working on cutting down our errors," Gonsorowski said, "And that's how they scored a lot of points on our errors, but eventually we got back into it." The Quakers came back to take a 12-10 lead but eventually dropped the second game 16-14. Penn was clearly drained after that and fell 15-6 in the third game to close the match. Maybe there is some kind of force affecting Penn-Princeton results at the Palestra, but Major just sees it as coincidence. "I think it's just us and them every time and we have our own mental war going on with that," Major said. "But it was nice to have the support out and I think that does come from the other sports." There was certainly one thing that was strange about the night -- Penn earned a measure of respect from Princeton. "I was scared," Princeton coach Glenn Nelson said. "We hit our usual stuff and they were digging anything. They're going to be a factor and despite their record right now in the league at 1-4, I don't want to have to play them in the first round. I was very impressed." Having played valiantly against arguably the Ivy League's top team, the Quakers should have opponents quivering as much as any 1-4 squad can.
(10/22/99 9:00am)
The Quakers may have to play Princeton without the services of injured senior Karin Witte or sophomore Kelly Szczerba. When Princeton visits the Palestra tonight, the outcome will not determine the Ivy League championship. It probably won't even show who is the best squad in the Ancient Eight. But for the Penn volleyball team (10-9, 1-3 Ivy League), tonight's match with the Tigers (14-4, 3-1) marks an opportunity to serve notice to an archrival and to the entire league that the Quakers are back as a serious force with which to be reckoned. Tonight is a chance for the Quakers to humble the defending Ivy champions. It is a chance for Penn to conquer the only team in the league that the Quakers have an all-time losing record against (18-27). It is a chance to show that a young team that lost its first three Ivy matches does have a shot at a title of its own for the first time since 1990. It is a chance to prove that Saturday's surprising win against Harvard was not a fluke. "We did come out a little slower than we wanted to against the other Ivy teams," Penn sophomore Kelly Szczerba said. "But we really picked it up against Harvard and showed what we're capable of, and hopefully we can continue. Obviously, we've all now seen how we can play." The Quakers, however, may have to see how they can play without Szczerba, who leads them with 70 total blocks, and senior Karin Witte, their second leading blocker with 40. Szczerba suffered a pinched meniscus in Tuesday night's win over Long Island, an injury which did not surface until after the match was over. Witte sprained her ankle on the first ball of the first game against the Blackbirds. Penn coach Kerry Major said that Szczerba's status for tonight's match is "questionable." Szczerba has not practiced since the injury and she will be re-evaluated today to determine whether or not she can play tonight. The Quakers certainly would not want the injury to become a season-threatening one, which is their main worry at this time. "I think it's been more precautionary than anything else," Szczerba said. "It feels a lot better and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be fine for [tonight]." Witte's ankle, meanwhile, is much less likely to become more severely injured if she tapes it up and plays, and Major said that the co-captain is "probable" for tonight's battle. "[Karin] played today but didn't jump," Major said. "We'll deal with our backups if we can't have [Witte and Szczerba]. We prepared for the worst today." The Quakers are fortunate to have some measure of depth. Freshman hitter Stacey Carter would be asked to move to the middle, where she played impressively against Yale. If both starters are unable to go against the Tigers, defensive specialist Kai Gonsorowski will move up to the front row. Gonsorowski is no stranger to the front line, though. She came to Penn as an outside hitter and then moved to the middle before finding a home in the back row, where she is fourth on the Red and Blue in digs. It is unfortunate for Penn, however, that the blockers are the ones who have come down with the injury bug. Against the strong-hitting Tigers, blocking will be very important. "We've come a long way [with our blocking] in a week," Major said. "Princeton is very frustrating -- they hit off the hands and out. Blocking is a key to the game, and of course great defense, but we've been playing that way for a while." Another important thing for the Quakers to do will be to play well from the outset of the match, something that they have not done since the very early stages of the season. "We have to play good for every single point," Major said. "We can't let up. They're a very unemotional team. Princeton could make a million mistakes in a row and then make 50 points in a row. That's huge in the Ivies to be that mentally strong. We're still up and down. But we had good practices this week and we know everything they're going to do." It won't take a miracle for Penn to beat Princeton and equal their Ivy victory total of a year ago; the Quakers will just have to execute. Yesterday's practice was very sharp, something that has been lacking this season until recently. "I think we're ready," Penn co-captain Kristel Weaver said. "It's in all the things we've been practicing. It's knowing where they're playing on the court and making smart shots, getting the team communicating, and hitting where they're not on the court. We need to play with the same intensity that we played with against Harvard." The Quakers have been saying that and trying to do it all season. Tonight, they will have a chance to make believers of even the Ivy's best.
(10/20/99 9:00am)
It may appear that Penn has only one volleyball team. The truth, however, is that on any given night, you don't know which team will show up. There's the team that is very capable of winning the Ivy League title -- the Quakers who won the school's first-ever match in California. That's the same Red and Blue squad that opened the season with three impressive victories in its first four matches, the team that came to the Palestra and sent Harvard (10-9, 3-1 Ivy League) back to Cambridge hanging its heads on Saturday. Then, there are the Quakers who make coach Kerry Major think that a championship is little more than a future dream -- the Penn team that disappointed in its opening Ivy weekend at Brown and Yale. These are the Quakers who utterly collapsed on Friday night against Dartmouth (8-11, 2-2). That same Friday night, the Crimson were busy in Old Nassau, handing Princeton (14-4, 3-1) its first 3-0 loss of the season to claim the top spot in the Ancient Eight standings. "We beat Princeton in three and we played fantastic," Harvard coach Jennifer Weiss said. "[But Penn] played great ball and we didn't adjust to them." The Crimson came to the Palestra on a roll and it appeared that their good fortunes would continue as Harvard took the first game from the Red and Blue 15-7. "We came out a little bit flat," Major said. "And I said that we are not going to beat Harvard like this, this isn't a winning team. And they decided to do it." Did they ever. Stephanie Horan had a monstrous match for Penn (10-9, 1-3), tallying season highs with 24 kills and 19 digs. Together with her nine-kill, 13-dig performance against Dartmouth the previous night, Horan earned honors as Ivy League Player of the Week. "It's a good feeling," Horan said. "But it's not like you're thinking about it while you're out there, going, 'Oh, one kill closer to Ivy League Player of the Week,' or anything like that, but it's a nice feeling." Penn freshman Michelle Kliszewski was also very impressive, equaling Horan's 19 digs to go with eight kills of her own. The Horan and Kliszewski show continued last night as the host Quakers defeated Long Island 3-0. Horan tallied 11 more kills and 18 digs against the Blackbirds, while Kliszewski ripped 17 kills to go with her 13 digs. "The team's played better as a whole," Kliszewski said. "And when the team plays better, individuals play better." LIU, however gave the Quakers some trouble. Though the Blackbirds played a very sloppy match and were clearly not as talented as Penn, LIU was gritty and refused to die, especially in the third game. The Blackbirds were down 13-8 in the match's final game and recorded six straight sideouts. But they committed four very untimely service errors and allowed Penn to get to match point. LIU saved that match point twice in one rally, denying strong attempts by Kliszewski and Kelly Szczerba. After the Blackbirds cut the lead to 14-10, K.C. Potter, who had not played at all up to that point, stepped off the bench, notched the kill for the sideout and then served out the match. Potter was also Penn's greatest bright spot on Friday night in an exciting match that resulted in a 3-0 loss to Dartmouth, as she racked up a team-high 11 kills and 16 digs. The Quakers' match with the Big Green was exciting because both teams were very streaky. In the first game, Dartmouth raced to an 8-1 lead as Jordan Schmidt served seven straight points. Penn then took nine of the next 13 before the Big Green put the game away 15-10. "When Jordan is serving, that's our strongest front row," Dartmouth coach Ann Marie Larese said. "We score a lot of points in that rotation." The second game was close, but Dartmouth held an 11-7 lead and it looked like they might be ready to dispose of the Quakers. But Potter sparked a rally for seven Penn points and the Quakers had a game point. And that's when the roof fell in on the Quakers. After Janna Merryfield's kill made it 14-12, Penn made physical and mental errors, including a save of a ball that was going out on Dartmouth's game point to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Penn still had a chance in the third game, when they trailed 6-4 early on. But after Schmidt got the ball to serve, Penn would never get another sideout. The Quakers came close to one at 13-4 but Merryfield's dig led to Ashley Dean's 10th kill. Merryfield was just getting warmed up -- she had a Dartmouth record 33 kills on Saturday against Princeton. Schmidt made sure that she had no more work to do on Friday, though, posting an ace to close the match. While the Quakers could have folded their tent after losing to Dartmouth, they rallied to beat Harvard and LIU. Penn's win last night, however, was marred by an ankle injury to senior co-captain Karin Witte, whose status is uncertain for Friday's match against Princeton.
(10/13/99 9:00am)
Even though the Penn volleyball team started its Ivy League season this past weekend with losses at Brown and Yale, there is no need to circle the wagons. There is no need to panic. The alarms are not sounding. The Quakers (8-8) know that the season really comes down to the Ivy League Tournament in November. That's why Penn coach Kerry Major refused to describe this weekend's matches against Harvard and Dartmouth at the Palestra as "must-win" matches. "We struggled last year around this time, too," Major said. "Our team is together physically and mentally we're going to grow and be as strong as we can be when we see them again in the Ivy Tournament." · That physical strength is clearly evident in the statistics that the Quakers have racked up in their first 16 matches, especially among those in the sophomore class. Stephanie Horan leads Penn with 162 kills, and Jodie Antypas is on a pace to take over fourth place on Penn's all-time assists list at the end of the season. But perhaps the most solid sophomore for the Quakers, however, has been Kelly Szczerba. The Carle Place, N.Y., native is second on the Red and Blue with 132 kills, already more than she had last season, and is easily Penn's blocking leader with 24 solo blocks and 35 block assists. "[Kelly] is our best blocker on the team, by far," Major said. "She's grown in that position and put up the numbers we've needed her to put up. In that way, I'm excited about my whole sophomore class, the way that they've grown between freshman and sophomore years." Szczerba, who was named the Quakers' Most Improved Player after her strong performance as a freshman last year, was more confident in the team than in her own play. "I think I'm having an OK season," Szczerba said. "I do feel that I can play better. I think that we have a right to be confident [as a team], and I think we're a very talented team." · The race for this season's award for Penn's Most Improved Player should be a very interesting one. In addition to the continued improvement of the sophomore class, Penn has had a pleasant surprise so far this season from its senior class, particularly former captain K.C. Potter. Potter did not play spring ball for Penn, but came back this fall refocused. She has already tallied a career-high 101 kills, ranking third among the Quakers in that category. "I think I've definitely grown a lot as a player and I've developed more confidence on the court than I had in previous years," Potter said. "Since I didn't play in the spring, making that decision to come back [meant] that I was recommitting myself to something. I wasn't going to do it in a half-assed manner." Potter's full effort has paid off, as she was named to the Golden Gate Invitational's All-Tournament team earlier this season. · The Red and Blue's throng of freshmen has been very productive so far this season, both in the front row and in the back row. In the front row, Stacey Carter's recent performances have given the Penn coaching staff a delightful problem -- finding a place for her to play. "I've got to find a place for her on the court," Major said. "Stacey just doesn't make errors out there." That will be very important to a Penn squad whose biggest problem of late has been making too many errors. In the match against Yale, Carter had nine kills and hit .818. For the season, Carter leads the Quakers with an unbelievable .427 hitting percentage, making just eight errors on 75 attacks. · Kai Gonsorowski was supposed to be in the front row as an outside hitter but when she arrived at Penn, she was moved to the middle and eventually the back row. Since her arrival there, Gonsorowski has shined, ranking third on the Quakers with 110 digs. She led Penn with 13 digs against the Elis. "She knows her role and has totally embraced it, and that's awesome," Major said. The move hasn't been completely easy, but it is working out fine now. "Adjusting to the new position has been hard," Gonsorowski said. "But you just go out there and do it and try your best. I like back row. Everyone just does what they need to do." Shayna Higa has done what she's needed to do for the Quakers so far this season. The defensive specialist has tallied 103 digs along with 14 service aces after converting to the back row from being a setter in high school. "Adjusting was kind of overwhelming in the beginning," Higa said. "The hardest thing is making sure you get the job done and doing what is expected of you." An expert in doing just that so far this season has been Alexis Zimbalist, who leads Penn's freshmen with 137 digs thus far. Zimbalist has also been one of Penn's more accurate servers -- she is one of only two Quakers with a minimum of 10 aces to register more aces than service errors. She has done this by serving a little more conservatively than the rest of the Red and Blue. "If you're serving aggressively, you'll miss often," Zimbalist said. "Other members of the team have a better serve than I do so I make it a priority to get it in before I go for the ace. Stephanie [Horan] leads the entire league in aces because she serves so aggressively, so of course she's going to miss once in a while. It's an instant point when she does make it, so it balances out." The Quakers will try this weekend to balance out their wins and losses in the Ivy League by bringing together all of these strong performances and minimizing their errors.
(10/08/99 9:00am)
Throughout its 14 pre-conference matches, the Penn volleyball team has tried to motivate itself on more than one occasion by calling various matches "true tests." The Quakers (8-6) will finally get some "true tests" tonight and tomorrow night as they travel to New England to open their Ivy League campaign with two of the toughest squads the Ancient Eight has to offer. "Starting the Ivy League this weekend, it's very important that we play well," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "It would be nice to pull off a win or two and we can pull off a win but I just want to play well. This is what we've been playing our whole preseason for." Penn's first match against an Ivy foe will be tonight in Providence, R.I., as the Quakers do battle with Brown. The defending Ivy League champions stand at 6-7 but that record is deceiving, as the Bears have lost to some very good teams, including a tough five-game match against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights dismantled Penn 3-0 in the Quakers' home opener on September 14. The Quakers then head to Yale, which went 4-3 in the Ivies last year and bounced the Red and Blue from the Ivy Tournament. Like the Quakers, the strength of the Elis lies in their strong freshman and sophomore classes. So, the Elis will probably be even tougher than they were last season. "They're two strong teams, two smart teams," Penn sophomore Kelly Szczerba said. "But as long as we play strong and play consistently, I think we'll do well against them." The Quakers can afford to be confident because they too are a stronger team this year than they were last year. The key, though, is to be strong on a consistent basis, especially early in the match. The Quakers have not played well in the opening stages of any match since returning from their trip to California three weeks ago. "In our past few matches we've come out kind of slow, and most of the time we're able to work back from that," Szczerba said. "But Yale and Brown are both two very good teams that it would be difficult for us to come back if we come out slow." The Quakers are well aware of their problem and spent quite a bit of time this week in practice working on their mental toughness. "We've been working really hard and I think we put in the work to be successful this weekend," Penn freshman Alexis Zimbalist said. Penn has been working hard toward this weekend for more than just the past week. The Quakers' grueling pre-conference schedule was designed to prepare them for the Ivy season and they enter this Ancient Eight campaign as a much better team than the Red and Blue squad that went 2-5 in the league last year. A year ago, Penn went 5-5 in its pre-Ivy schedule. This fall, against better competition, Penn has registered eight wins in 14 matches, including its first-ever victory in California. Still, there's no excitement quite like finally starting league play. "Our approach to every match should be the same," Penn co-captain Karin Witte said. "But there's going to be a little bit more excitement definitely, because we're in the Ivy League now." If the Quakers can emerge victorious against the defending league champions and a team that beat them twice in 1998, there will indeed be more than just a little bit more excitement for the Red and Blue.
(10/04/99 9:00am)
The Quakers swept the Leopards to improve to 11-1 all tim against Lafayette. The Penn volleyball team had a lot of work to do on Friday night in its match at Lafayette. In their last match before Ivy League play, the Quakers accomplished some of their goals, but still must make progress this week in practice before they head to Brown this Friday. The Quakers (8-6) won a fairly easy 3-0 decision from the Leopards at the Kirby Sports Center but once again did not play their best early in the match. Penn won the first two games by 15-11 scores before cruising to a 15-1 rout in the third game. "Again, we didn't quite start as well as we wanted to, but we [did get] into our game," Penn freshman Kai Gonsorowski said. "We just need to keep working on how we approach each match. When we play tougher teams, we won't be able to start like that and come out the winner, so we need to work on it a little more." Penn did make progress, however, by not losing either of the first two games to the Leopards (1-14) as they did against weaker Towson and Drexel squads a week ago in 3-1 triumphs at the Palestra. Aside from making strides with how they start matches, the Quakers wanted to use their entire roster in Easton, Pa. Every member of the Red and Blue did play, except for Jodie Antypas, who was sidelined with a sprained thumb, and K.C. Potter and Rachel Scherer, who were ill. "It taught us that regardless of the lineup, we can play well and win," said Penn freshman Michelle Kliszewski, who had three aces and six digs against Lafayette. "It showed our depth a lot." Because everyone on the Quakers saw action, the match was not filled with gaudy statistics for Penn, as nobody on the victorious side registered double figures in kills or digs. Penn's service game, however, was an interesting case in numbers. Stephanie Horan finally registered more aces than service errors (4-3) and the Quakers as a team tallied 11 aces alongside nine errors. The high total in both categories can be attributed to Penn's service style. The Quakers try to accumulate a lot of aces but such efforts can lead to errors. "I was trying to be aggressive but it needs to be aggressive in the court," said Gonsorowski, who had two aces but made three service errors in the match. "The aces are good but the errors need to be cut down." Penn will definitely be working on the service game this week in practice as the Quakers prepare for their Ivy campaign. While the Leopards played a slower style than most Ivy League teams do, Penn was able to use the match to work out its problems in a match situation. As the victory ran Penn's record against Lafayette all-time to 11-1, it really amounted to a glorified practice. "They really don't compare to the level of competition we'll face with Brown and Yale [this weekend]," Penn co-captain Kristel Weaver said. "I think this week will be our best preparation for Brown and Yale.? I think it was really neat that different people got to play and did a great job. We did a good job of playing intense, keeping up our focus." Penn will need to put its success at Lafayette together with strong practices in the coming days in order to have a good opening to its Ivy campaign at the end of the week.
(09/29/99 9:00am)
The 7-6 Quakers are now 0-3 against opponents from the tough Big East Conference VILLANOVA, Pa. -- The Penn volleyball team wanted to start last night's match with Villanova on the right foot. In their past two matches, the Quakers had been weak in the opening games and against the Wildcats, they wanted to be on their game right from the start. After a long rally to open the match, Penn sophomore Stephanie Horan blasted a ball into the Villanova backcourt. Moments later, senior Kristel Weaver drilled one off the 'Nova block. Penn led 2-0 and it looked like the Quakers would give the Wildcats a good fight. Then, the Quakers (7-6) went flatter than a three-day-old, half-empty can of Dr. Pepper. "Our emotion and communication are there when we start and we don't continue beyond the first two points with the intensity that we've begun with," said Karin Witte, who led Penn in kills for the second straight match with nine. "So we've figured out what it is what we're not doing." By not keeping up their intensity, the Red and Blue's lead quickly evaporated,and Villanova (8-8) was soon up 9-2. Of the nine points scored by the Wildcats on their first three serves, only one was not the result of some sort of mistake by the Quakers. When Villanova started playing up to its own level, the result was rather academic. The Wildcats emerged victorious, 15-6, 15-7, 15-7. Since 1994, Villanova is 34-12 on its home floor. The Quakers, who tallied three aces opposite their 12 service errors last night, are fortunate to not be members of the Big East. Last night's loss made Penn 0-3 for this season against that conference. "We need to cut the mistakes out," said Penn setter Amy Schutte, who came off the bench to tally three kills, eight assists and a 1.000 hitting percentage. "But this was a good wake-up call and I'm glad it happened now and not while we're in the Ivy season." Penn raced out to a 4-1 lead in the second game but quickly came crashing down again. At the same time, Villanova was heating up. The Quakers hit just .051 in that game, while the Wildcats advanced to .314 from their first-game mark of .162. "We did some nice things and it was a nice team effort," Villanova coach Heather Hoehn said. "I was most pleased with Ruth Ann Blankenheim. That was the first time she's gotten up and terminated the ball on a consistent basis. She also did a great job playing defense for us." Blankenheim's block in the second game cut Penn's lead to 4-3 and re-energized the Wildcats after the Quakers' strong start to the game. She went on to record nine kills and a match-high 18 digs. "Villanova did a good job picking up our shots, and that got to our hitters and made them a little more tentative," Penn assistant coach Orlin Jespersen said. "That became a little more of a factor in the second game and we have to be aware of that and still make smart shots." But Penn did not do that last night. The offense peppered the out-of-bounds areas, the net and the Villanova blockers with shots all night long but encountered some degree of difficulty piloting balls to the floor in the gaps of the Wildcats defense. "I think it's something we can fix because it's not a physical problem," Witte said. "It's a mental problem." Whatever the problem is, Penn has exactly 10 days to work it out. The Quakers start Ivy play at Brown next Friday and any aspirations for an Ivy League title rest on Penn's ability to get the job done offensively. There will be one more tuneup for the Red and Blue before they travel to face the Bears and Yale next weekend. Penn heads to Lafayette this Friday. "We're aware of all of our weaknesses now," said Penn coach Kerry Major, who uncharacteristically had little to say after last night's match. "Our next two practices are going to be about taking care of that. This is definitely a humbling experience, we can find out where we need to go from here and it's great to get this over before Ivies -- we're going to learn and grow from this." One element of the Red and Blue's game that does not need to grow too much more is the defense, which, although it too had a subpar match against the Wildcats, still performed well. The Quakers dug 53 balls last night and were led by freshman Kai Gonsorowski, who had 13. Horan was also in double figures with 11 and K.C. Potter had nine. Penn also did not completely roll over, which is an encouraging sign for when a comeback is more feasible. "I feel like the attitude stayed pretty positive," Schutte said. "That's been a problem in the past, but now, even [when] we're not passing well or hitting well, people stay positive." Down 13-3 in the third game, the Quakers -- led mostly at that point by their bench -- rallied to make the score 13-7 to strike fear into the hearts of the Wildcats. But the charge was too late in arriving and the Quakers finally fell.
(09/28/99 9:00am)
After the beating issued to the Penn football team by Villanova on Saturday, there must be some measure of school pride on the line when the Penn volleyball team travels to the Main Line tonight. Last year, however, the Wildcats defeated Penn 3-0 at the Palestra. "This is probably a true test," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "This is someone that obviously killed us last year, and if we beat them, I think it'll be a good marker of where we are." Penn is in an interesting position already. The Quakers (7-5) have been successful recently despite the struggles of Stephanie Horan, who led Penn last year with 50 aces and 225 digs and was tops among Penn's returning players with 231 kills. Fortunately for Penn, other players have been delivering good performances, but to beat a Big East team like Villanova, Horan will need to have a strong night. While Horan does lead Penn with 129 kills and 21 aces, her hitting percentage is down from last year and she has a stunning 41 service errors. "I feel like I've been in a slump in general up until [Friday's match against] Georgetown," Horan said. "After Georgetown, I feel like snapped out of it. So maybe the serving is on the same track. I sure hope so. We'll see how it goes tomorrow -- hopefully better." Horan's struggles were perfectly typified in one sequence on Saturday against Drexel. She served two consecutive aces but then drilled her next attempt into the net. Villanova, meanwhile, has been struggling. The Wildcats are 7-8 and on Saturday lost starting middle hitter Tina Zitterich to an injury. "People will have to rise to the occasion," Villanova coach Heather Hoehn said. "We were playing pretty well behind [Zitterich]. I think it'll be a good test for both programs." A good early indicator will be the first game of the match. In matches against inferior Towson and Drexel teams this weekend, Penn was very flat early. A similar poor start tonight could spell disaster for the Quakers. "That's our goal -- a great first game," Major said. "We have to be smart [tonight] and play at our top level. We can beat them. So anything less than a win will be disappointing." The Red and Blue obviously picked up on the message during yesterday's practice. "If we play on top of our game, we can challenge anyone and give them a good run for their money," Quakers senior Kristel Weaver said. "We have a really good chance of playing well and beating them so I'm looking forward to that."
(09/27/99 9:00am)
One of the marks of a championship team is that different players will deliver key performances at important moments to save the team and help it to victory. Hosting the first annual Sheraton Invitational this past weekend, the Penn volleyball team (7-5) got just that in a tough 3-0 loss to Georgetown on Friday night and in 3-1 victories over Towson and Drexel on Saturday. "This is the result we hoped for," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "[Going 3-0] was unrealistic." If the Quakers had not been more careful, they could have finished the weekend at 0-3. Penn was very flat in the early going against both the Tigers and the Dragons. Penn split the first two games against Towson, each winning by a score of 15-9. At the intermission, Major did not say much to her team but what she did say had quite an effect. "I just let them figure it out," Major said. "I said, 'This is not the way Penn volleyball needs to play. You know how you need to play. Enough said. Bye. Figure it out.' And they did. They came out and did the job." Penn's 15-4, 15-1 finish to the match was led by the Quakers' Long Island connection. Sophomores Stephanie Horan and Kelly Szczerba, both of whom made the All-Tournament team, combined for 35 kills in the match. Szczerba hit .448 and Horan had 14 digs. Four other Quakers also registered double figures in digs against the Tigers. "Kristel [Weaver] really came on, too," Major said. "She had an amazing number of digs [13] for only being in three of the games." Penn's other co-captain, Karin Witte, impressed the opposition with her performance. "She's just a stud over there," Towson coach Catherine Lavery said. "She tooled us and we couldn't seem to shut her down." Lavery was not as impressed with her own team's showing on Saturday morning. "There's a lot of young girls out there that would like to play paddy-cake instead of volleyball, so I'm not real happy," the Tigers' first-year coach said. If Witte was a stud against Towson, it's impossible to say what she was against Drexel. The senior from Milwaukee led Penn with 10 kills against the Dragons -- just one fewer than she had registered for her entire career prior to this season. "Karin really came on," Major said. "[Drexel] capitalized on Kelly and did a great job shutting her down, and had two or three blockers [on Szczerba] every time, and Kelly managed to come through that alright. But Karin rally stepped up. They forgot about her and she came on, and that was great to see." Witte, however, refused to take the credit for the Quakers' triumph over their University City rivals, deflecting it to her teammates. "It was a team effort," Witte said. "We played phenomenal defense later in the match. I was happy with our defense -- Shayna [Higa], she's the stud if you want to talk about that." Higa served well had nine digs against Drexel. Fellow freshman Michelle Kliszewski played probably her best match of the season, racking up seven kills and 12 digs. "I can't believe Shayna only got nine," Major said. "Michelle played well -- she's definitely playing [better] out there." The Quakers once again came out flat, though, hitting an appalling -.049 in dropping the first game 15-4. Penn did then come back, taking the next three games 15-9, 15-4, 15-6. "I don't know if it's underestimating the opponent," Major said. "I didn't hear anything in the locker room like that but I'm sure we're not going to make a habit of it." When the Quakers snapped out of their funk, they did it in a big way. Penn hit .533 in the third game and tallied points on all but one of its serves. "I think we learned that we need to come out strong no matter what the team is," said Penn setter Jodie Antypas, who bounced back on Saturday from a tough defensive and setting night against Georgetown. "Once we got going, we started doing really well." Antypas was not the only member of Red and Blue to struggle against the Hoyas (14-2). Horan had only two kills and hit -.300, and was pulled in the second game. Still, other members of the Quakers played well and the team's overall effort was impressive in defeat. Amy Schutte, the team's lone junior, came off the bench to pick up 10 assists and senior K.C. Potter, who struggled on Saturday, led Penn with 10 kills. Freshman defensive specialist Alexis Zimbalist had eight kills to pace the Quakers. "I'm happy with how the team played," said Kliszewski, who had six kills and five digs. "I think we need to consider that Georgetown is [on its way to being] a top-25 team, and that we played as well as we could." Georgetown won the match 15-5, 15-11, 15-13. In the second game, Penn trailed by as much as six points but cut the Georgetown advantage to 13-11 before succumbing. Penn then led by as much as 9-4 in the third game but the Hoyas stormed back to capture the victory. Penn hit .309 in the final game but was finally done in by tournament MVP Kiran Gill's 23 kills, which led the Hoyas.
(09/24/99 9:00am)
The Penn volleyball team has only played one game at the Palestra this season. The Penn volleyball team has surprised many opponents with its improvement this year, starting the season at 5-4 against a very tough non-conference schedule. Perhaps the only thing that will get easier for the Quakers this weekend is that the Sheraton Invitational Tournament will be held at the Palestra, where the Red and Blue have played just one match this season. The Quakers dropped that match, a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Rutgers. Their opponent to open the tournament tonight will be an even tougher Big East squad -- Georgetown. "Last year, they beat us in three but we didn't play poorly," Penn sophomore Kelly Szczerba said. "We're a lot stronger this year and now we know them. We're a lot more prepared and a lot further along in our season." It is hard to believe that the season is only two weeks old. But the Quakers have made great strides in that time, winning three five-game matches, including a victory over Cal State-Fullerton last week that was Penn's first-ever triumph in the Golden State. "I didn't think we'd be as strong as we are right now," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "The girls have really picked it up." The Quakers have played so well this season that defeating the Hoyas no longer seems like such a long shot. "We can beat anyone here," Major said. "Especially here in the Palestra. Look at Penn and Temple [in men's basketball last season]. It's a very intimidating place to play." Still, the focus for Penn is emerging from the weekend with a strong effort against Georgetown and victories over Saturday's opponents, Towson and Drexel. "I don't want them to focus too much on the Georgetown match," Major said. "We're just going to go out and play our best. I don't want us to forget Towson and Drexel. Drexel especially always plays us tough and they're a strong team that hasn't had very much luck." The Quakers actually are focused on Georgetown only as the next opponent. Beating the Dragons, though, is the Quakers' primary goal. "I think our match with Drexel is always a good rivalry," said Penn senior K.C. Potter, who is currently tied for third on the Quakers with 59 kills. "But we need to take each match as its own. So right now, I'm looking towards Georgetown but we're looking to play some good hard volleyball against all three teams." As it has been all season, the key for Penn in the upcoming three matches will be to stick to its own game. Even though the Quakers won at Lehigh on Tuesday in three games, there is still plenty that the Quakers need to work on. "We should just try to focus on ourselves and playing well when we have the ball," Major said. "I don't think we did that against Lehigh, even though the score didn't show it." The stat sheet did show it. Despite Penn's domination of the Engineers, the Quakers only hit .082 in the second game. And while Jodie Antypas led the Red and Blue with five service aces, Major expressed a desire for her backcourt specialists to be more aggressive with their serves. The long list of surprised Penn opponents will probably end with Drexel, which has plenty of advance knowledge about its University City neighbor. "I expect Penn to be very strong defensivel, and have a lot of aggressive servers," Drexel coach Melanie Kopka said. "They'll play really well together and it'll be a very challenging match that we look forward to. We enjoy playing Penn." It's hard to say how much anyone will enjoy facing the Quakers these days. With two weeks still remaining until Ivy League play opens, it is safe to say that the Ancient Eight has its warning. "I think we're definitely overprepared for the Ivy League season," said Szczerba, who leads Penn regulars with a .316 hitting percentage after a .526 performance against the Engineers. "We're very ready for that."
(09/23/99 9:00am)
The Quakers are finding success by spreading out their offensive game. After nine matches this season, the Penn volleyball team stands at 5-4. Last year, the Quakers went 4-5 to open the season. That doesn't seem like a very big improvment at first glance -- but it certainly is. Penn has a much deeper team this year, and instead of taking on weaker opponents like Lafayette, Sacred Heart and Drexel -- three teams Penn beat early last year -- the Quakers have taken on tough competition, playing three California teams at the Golden Gate Invitational and playing their only home match until October 15 against a very talented Rutgers squad. Before the Colgate Tournament and the weekend in San Francisco, Penn coach Kerry Major said, "on paper, we should lose." For those two weekends, the Quakers were 4-3. · The Penn offense has been much more diverse this year than in the past. After relying very heavily on then-senior Sue Sabatino and then-freshman Stephanie Horan last year, the Quakers have become less predictable on the attack. "[The diversity] doesn't surprise me," Major said. "Jodie [Antypas] runs the court out there. I don't think she really gets enough credit. She really decides who gets those kills and she spreads out the offense." The offense has indeed been spread out. Five of the Quakers -- Horan, sophomore Kelly Szczerba and seniors K.C. Potter, Kristel Weaver and Karin Witte -- have 50 or more kills. Antypas is the only predictable part of the attack. The sophomore setter, who had 796 assists last season, is well on her way to matching that total, tallying 325 so far this year. However, Antypas says she does not care about individual statistics. "I don't really know how many assists I have," said Antypas, who added five aces to her 40 assists in Tuesday's victory at Lehigh. "I'm not really out there for the stats. It's such a team sport that each person's individual record isn't going to win an Ivy League championship for the team." The numbers certainly don't hurt, though. · The player who has put up probably the most surprising numbers, however, is Witte. The senior co-captain was not part of the team as a freshman and through two years with the Quakers, she had registered only 11 kills. So far this season, Witte has 54 kills and is hitting .178. She has also been very important to the Quakers with her leadership off the court. "I'm pleased that I could fulfill the role and have that capacity on the team," Witte said. "Because of the difficulties I've had waiting to play, it's very rewarding now to be a part of it." While she hopes that her senior season culminates in an Ivy Championship, Witte is set on taking the small steps that lead to the larger ones. "It's exciting," Witte said. "But we have a lot of ground to cover before [thinking about the Ivy Championship]. We have to take care of the smaller goals, and we're not trying to think championship, but more about each match." · As Penn was delayed in going to San Francisco by Hurricane Floyd last Thursday, the Quakers had to wait at Philadelphia International Airport. Some of the Red and Blue players got a little bored waiting around the airport and a group of the Quakers raced around the airport in wheelchairs. "You're at the airport for 10 or so hours," Szczerba said. "There happened to be wheelchairs right there, so we decided to have a little fun." Who won the races? "Me, of course," Szczerba said. "But a wheelchair race is just for fun." "Kelly is pretty much the instigator with a little bit of the weirdness on the team," Major said. "Personalities come out on the road and that's fun to see." Another personality that came out on the trip was that of assistant coach Orlin Jespersen, who was popping wheelies in the terminal. "Orlin's looks can be very deceiving," Antypas said. "He seems really quiet, but he isn't." · In addition to this weekend's Sheraton Invitational at the Palestra, the Quakers will play in an alumni match on Sunday at noon. "Thirty alums are coming back from championship teams and from our first team in 1979 to recent graduates," Major said. "There'll be a lot of parties for them at Shula's and they're donating a lot of stuff for the raffle." At that match, Penn will announce the results of its raffle for those prizes, including a Diamond Rio MP3 player and dinners from Shula's Steak 2, as well as other Penn volleyball prizes.
