CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team finished its road trip to the Ivy League's Northernmost schools in style on Saturday evening, pulling out a 3-2 win at Harvard. The Quakers won the first two sets, 25-18 and 25-17; fell in the third and fourth by 25-17 scores; but recovered to win an epic fifth set, 18-16.
 
Penn snapped a five-match losing streak and improved to 6-13 overall, 3-7 in Ivy League play. The host Crimson are now 9-10 overall, 6-4 in Ivy play.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Junior captain Autumn Leak had a monstrous night, recording 21 kills and hitting .421. It was her fifth time with 20 or more kills this season, but the first since she had 24 at Temple on September 18.
 
*Leak's 21K-5E-38A scoreline matched exactly her best of the season, from September 14 at Lehigh.
 
*Senior captain Margaret Planek had her sixth double-double of the season, and her third in the last five matches, with 13 kills and 14 digs. She hit .306 on the night.
 
*Senior Daniela Fornaciari had 12 kills and four block assists, tied with Leak for most on the team.
 
*One night after hitting a career-high 20 kills at Dartmouth, junior Madeline McGregor recorded nine kills, seven digs and a team-best four service aces against the Crimson.
 
*Senior setter Kylie Kulinski had 48 assists and nine digs on Saturday night.
 
*Freshman Paige Gillon had three kills, the Quakers' only block solo, and three block assists.
 
*Senior captain Carmina Raquel led Penn with 20 digs from the libero position and also had six assists.
 
How It Happened
Penn had something to prove after getting swept at Dartmouth on Friday night, and the Quakers played like it early on at Harvard's Malkin Athletic Center.
 
The Quakers' key run in the first set came when they were down 10-9; they ran off a a 6-1 streak and forced a Harvard timeout. The Crimson got within three points twice after that—at 16-13 and 17-14—but Penn used modest runs to pull away for the set win. Leak and Fornaciari had five kills each in the set, while McGregor had four and Planek had seven digs.
 
Harvard used a four-point run to turn an 11-10 deficit in the second set into a 14-11 lead. Penn responded, though, running off four in a row to turn a 15-13 deficit into a lead it wouldn't relinquish. The Crimson called timeout and won the first point out of that, but Penn reeled off five more points to make it a 9-1 run and a 22-16 advantage. The Quakers cruised from there, the finishing run a staggering 12-2. Leak hit .800 in the set (4K-0E-5A) while Fornaciari had three kills and two block assists.
 
Harvard never trailed in the third set, gradually pulling away throughout its course for the eight-point victory. Leak had another .800 game (4K-0E-5A). The Crimson then dominated the fourth set, scoring the first six points and nine of the first 10. Penn made a set of it, getting within three points on two occasions (9-6 and 10-7), but they could not cut any further into the deficit.
 
To its credit, Penn rebounded in a dramatic final set.
 
Harvard looked like it would run away with it, scoring four of the first five points. However, a kill by Leak and a service ace by Kulinski spurred a three-point run that brought Penn level. Harvard again took the lead, 9-7, only to see the Quakers run off three in a row thanks to kills by McGregor, Fornaciari and (after a Harvard timeout) Leak. Harvard tied it at 10 and the teams traded points before Penn got a pair of kills from Leak to spur a three-point run that gave the Red and Blue three match points. Harvard made up all of them, sandwiching a pair of kills around a Leak attack error.
 
At that point, Planek stepped up. She had a kill to make it 15-14; another one to make it 16-15; and a third to put Penn up 17-16. She then served and assisted on the final point, McGregor taking the finishing honors. For the set, Planek hit .500 (5K-0E-10A).
 
Up Next
Penn is back on the road next weekend, traveling to Yale (Friday at 7 p.m.) and Brown (Saturday at 5 p.m.). The Bears currently lead the Ivy League with a 9-1 record, while the Bulldogs are tied with Princeton for second place, both teams at 7-3.