Samuel Mondry-Cohen

With the volleyball team's second-place finish in the Ivy League already secured, the Quakers fell, 3-1, to champions Princeton last night. For the Tigers, it was the final win in an undefeated Ivy League season. The Quakers' four seniors will graduate without an Ivy League title, but even they never expected to ever come this close to the trophy.

The Penn volleyball team has already beaten Harvard and Dartmouth. And, if they want to keep their title hopes alive, they will have to do it again this weekend. Two weeks ago, the Quakers swept Harvard and beat a strong Dartmouth team 3-1. "I think we should have beat Dartmouth in three the last time," freshman libero Madison Wojciechowski said.

Penn's opponents this weekend are a combined 3-11 in the Ivy League. But that doesn't mean the team is complacent. In large part that is because they are heading to New York to face two-time defending champion Cornell. Although not on their way to a third-straight championship this year, the Big Red (6-12, 3-4 Ivy) are still a formidable opponent; they have already upset a strong Dartmouth team earlier this season.

In a weekend of must-win games, outside hitter Anna Shlimak made sure her squad didn't lose. Tied with Dartmouth for third on Friday afternoon, the Quakers defeated the Big Green before sweeping Harvard on Saturday. The senior led Penn to a 3-1 victory over Dartmouth with a career high 19 kills, more than any Penn player all season.

The Penn volleyball team won two out of three matches this weekend, but nobody is happy about it. The Quakers did start off the weekend with a convincing 3-0 victory over Brown, though the Bears (2-15, 0-5 Ivy) sit at the bottom of the Ivy League standings.

Outside hitter Laura Black spikes a ball wide. But she has no time to hang her head - it's time for one of the Penn volleyball team's many cheers. After every point, win or lose, the six players meet in the middle of the court and do some sort of jig and chant.

The Penn volleyball team may have recorded its last upset of the season. From here on out it could be the favorite. The Quakers (6-5) defeated a strong Villanova team (9-6) in three games last night. "We are an upset team this year," coach Kerry Carr said.

You don't need to look at the scoreboard to see which team won a volleyball match. All you need to see is the attack percentage. Win that battle and the match is yours. Penn demonstrated that over the weekend, winning the percentage battle and thus taking the match two out of three times.

Penn volleyball will need every advantage this weekend. And the Palestra just might give one to them. Facing top teams Albany (7-5) and Temple (4-10) in the Sheraton-Penn invitational this weekend the Quakers may have to rely on a little home-court advantage.

The Penn volleyball team went to Washington D.C. and got what it came for - its first win. The Quakers (3-4) beat Lafayette 3-0 on Friday at the American University Tournament but didn't stop there. They went on to sweep both Army and Navy before falling to American in five games in the finals to take second place in the tournament.