CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team suffered a 3-1 loss to the Harvard Crimson on Saturday evening. The loss drops the Quakers to 9-7 and 2-5 in the Ivy League.
 
The early theme of the match was neither team being able to string together runs of more than two points. The Quakers and Crimson traded the lead four times and tied each other eight times, with no lead extending more than three points. However, the set ultimately ended with a three-point advantage, as the Crimson snatched the first set 25-22.
 
The Quakers made a push in the second set, but ultimately couldn't hold off the Crimson who got a key kill from Mindie Mabry to win 25-23. Daniela Fornaciari was incredibly effective the whole match, but shined late in the second, scoring three of the final four Penn points on kills.
 
Fornaciari and the Quakers used that momentum to force a fourth set, taking the third set 25-22. The Quakers built a lead following six straight points to go ahead 11-6 and never looked back, taking a lead as large as six. As a team, the Quakers notched 15 kills and two blocks in the win.
 
However, the fourth set proved to be a challenge for the Quakers, as the Crimson rebounded to take an early lead. Five out of six points were won in the middle of the set by Harvard, making it 18-12 and the Quakers couldn't recover, falling 25-18.
 
Fornaciari and Parker Jones led the way on offense for the Quakers, with Jones notching 13 kills and nine digs, while Fornaciari tallied 12 kills and a sparkling .444 hitting percentage. Caroline Douglas notched 13 digs and Kacie Burton extended her streak of 30-or more assist games to seven with 36 on the day.
 
Penn returns home to The Palestra for their second matchup of the season against Princeton on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. The Quakers dropped the last matchup on September 27^th 3-0 at Princeton.