Penn volleyball has a lot to prove this weekend.

It’s do or die for women’s soccer. And do they will. With three games to go in Ivy League play, the Red and Blue (5-3-5, 0-1-3 Ivy) find themselves fifth, but in clear striking distance of third place.

For Penn field hockey, a result like Tuesday night’s beat-down of Drexel was anything but imperative.

The story of the 2015 Ivy League volleyball campaign has been one of balance and unpredictability. After one turn through the Ivy League, Penn Volleyball sits at 3-4.

A short memory can be a useful tool in the sporting world. And as Penn field hockey readies itself for a crosstown match with Drexel this Wednesday, a little forgetfulness will go a long way.

Two Penn freshman – football’s Christian Pearson and women’s soccer’s Sasha Stevens – were named the Ivy League’s Rookie of the Week in their respective sports Monday.

Channeling the lyrics of rock legend Tom Petty, Penn’s cross country is certainly “running down a dream” this season.

It was a dark night at Rhodes Field on Saturday, and not just because the lights went out.  After grabbing the lead early in the second half and waiting through two game delays due to technical trouble, Penn women’s soccer came within 19 seconds of registering their first Ivy League win of the season.

The Quakers split their two games this weekend, losing to Columbia, 2-1, on Friday but bouncing back to earn a victory against Bucknell, 3-2 on Sunday.

The Red and Blue had a rough weekend on the road, dropping a hard-fought match with the four-time-defending-champion Bulldogs, 3-1, before Brown handed Carr's squad one of its most convincing defeats of the season, a 25-18, 25-18, 25-23 sweep in Providence.

Keep the floodgates open. After breaking its eight game goal drought on Tuesday against American, Penn women's soccer will seek to end another drought within its 2015 season - a winless Ivy record.

Penn volleyball knows the sting of a massive upset. Fortunately for the Red and Blue, they won’t have to wait too long for a chance to dish one out of their own. Only six days after a stunning upset at the hands of Columbia — the 279th-ranked team in Division I RPI, worst among Ivy League teams — the Quakers (9-8, 3-2 Ivy) will travel to Yale to take on the four-time defending conference champions on Friday night, before finishing their doubleheader at Brown on Saturday. “We struggled with our blocking and our defense, and those are usually points that we’ve been pretty solid with,” coach Kerry Carr said about the surprising 3-1 loss to the Lions, in which the Red and Blue hit only .145.

Penn cross country has just one meet left — the Princeton Invitational — before championship season begins, leaving little time for improvement as the men’s and women’s squads search for strength in numbers heading into nationals. The men and women both put on similar performances at their most recent meet, the prestigious Notre Dame Invitational.

On Tuesday night under the lights at Rhodes Field, something clicked for the embattled women’s soccer squad. Heading into Tuesday’s tilt with American, the Quakers (5-3-4) had only scored one goal in their previous six games.

In addition to their accomplishments on the pitch, Penn’s soccer teams have continued to succeed off the field.

As the old adage goes: “Actions speak louder than words.” However, the exception to this rule is the Penn volleyball bench, whose words are pretty darn loud.

You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take, but you can still miss a hundred percent of the shots you do take.