PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team heads to California this weekend for three games as part of the UC-Riverside Invitational.
 
Penn enters the weekend on a four-game win streak, having swept all three games at home in the Valley Forge Sports Invitational against Chicago State, Duquesne and St. Francis Brooklyn.
 
Friday Schedule (EST)
  2:00 p.m. – Penn vs. Seattle
  10:00 p.m. – UC-Riverside vs. Penn
Saturday Schedule (EST)
  4:00 p.m. – Penn vs. Cal-State Fullerton
 
Coach Braddak says…
"We are so fortunate to be able to take this trip. We are excited to play a little bit closer to home for many of our student-athletes. I know the entire team has been looking forward to this since the spring. We've been working hard to prepare, and feel ready to take on these teams."
 
"We expect a high level of competition this weekend on the road. We've been talking about really raising the bar in our gym all season long and I know we'll rise to the occasion. I'm confident in our skills and our abilities. At the end of the day, we will be looking for our team to take care of the ball on our side of the net. It's really going to come down to our serving, and first ball contact."
 
"Being on the road together is always fun. This type of trip always brings a program closer together. I know our first years and our returners alike will get a lot of great experience out of this trip."
 
Quaker Notemeal
*The Quakers are now 5-1 on the year, their best start since going 8-1 to open the season in 2009.
 
*The Quakers earned three selections to the Valley Forge Invitational All-Tournament Team. Junior Parker Jones, sophomore Margaret Planek and sophomore Carmina Raquel earned the honors.
 
*Jones tallied 47.5 of the Quakers 184 points last weekend, good for a total of 25.8%. She has moved into second place in total points at 77.0, one behind leader Margaret Planek.
 
*Jones has also taken a step forward in attack efficiency, recording a .216 attack percentage over her first six games. Jones recorded back-to-back outings with a .423 and .542 attack percentage. Last season, Jones tallied a .171 attack percentage over the course of the year.
 
*Planek has blown past her freshman year totals in kills, reaching 64 in just six games after recording 53 in 25 games last year. This is on top of her incredible performance on defense, notching 52 digs after recording 132 all of last season.
 
*Raquel tallied an impressive all-around weekend, leading the Quakers in service aces (5), while notching 60 digs and 14 assists.
 
*Raquel leads the Ivy League in digs (122), while also leading in average digs-per-set (5.08).
 
*Raquel and freshman Caroline Douglas have been two of the strongest servers on the team, tied in aces (8) and aces per set (0.33).
 
*At the setter spot, freshman Taylor Fourticq split duties with sophomore Kylie Kulinski this weekend. Fourticq tallied 69 assists and 20 digs, while Kulinski notched 39 assists and 10 digs in place of the injured junior Kacie Burton.
 
*The third set proved to be the most stressful in each game over the weekend. There were 34 tied scores over the weekend (56 ties total) and 16 lead changes (compared to 24 overall).
 
*Sophomore Aiyu Aimufua played in the final game of the weekend series, but made the most of it, tallying four kills and six total blocks over the three set win against St. Francis Brooklyn.
 
*Junior Caroline Leng notched 13 total blocks over the weekend, bringing her to 19.0 total blocks this year, good for first on the team. Leng averaged 1.06 blocks-per-set.