ITHACA, N.Y. – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team closed out its first full Ivy League weekend road trip with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-19) loss at Cornell on Saturday evening. The Quakers saw their modest two-match win streak snapped as they fell to 5-9 overall, 2-3 in Ivy play. The Big Red won for the first time in Ivy play and are now 5-8 overall.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn was overwhelmed by Cornell's attack on Saturday night, as the Big Red hit .443 for the match with 52 kills and just nine errors.
 
*Senior captain Margaret Planek led the Penn attack on Saturday evening, with a team-high 10 kills and a .400 hitting percentage.
 
*Junior captain Autumn Leak had nine kills and five digs on the night.
 
*Junior Madeline McGregor had a solid offensive performance on Saturday, hitting .333 as she had six kills without an error.
 
*Senior Daniela Fornaciari had three blocks at the net (1s/2a) and finished with three kills.
 
*Junior Caroline Douglas led Penn with 10 digs.
 
*Five different players had assists on Saturday night, led by senior Kylie Kulinski who had 18 and sophomore Jo Armstrong who had 10.
 
How It Happened
Cornell entered the night looking for its first win in Ivy play against four losses, and the Big Red set the tone early on Saturday with a 9-3 lead that forced a Penn timeout. It was already too late, though, as the Quakers never got closer than five points the rest of the way, the last being at 14-9 before another three-point Cornell run slammed the door.
 
The second set started in much the same fashion, Cornell forcing a Penn timeout by taking an 11-5 lead early. The Quakers were able to rally, however, fashioning a four-point run at 14-9 that got them within a point at 14-13. However, the Big Red scored the next four points to regain control, and while Penn got within two on a number of occasions after that they ran out of time as the hosts took a 2-0 lead to the break.
 
Whereas Cornell led wire-to-wire in each of the first two sets, the third saw 11 ties and three lead changes. The Big Red used a four-point run to turn an 8-8 tie into a 12-8 lead, but Penn responded with its own four-point run to draw back level. The teams were then tied at 13, 15 and 17 before the Big Red used a backbreaking four-point run to go in front 21-17. That seemed to take the wind out of Penn's sails and the Big Red closed it out with the game's final two points.
 
Up Next
Penn is back at home next weekend, hosting Brown on Friday at 7 p.m. and Yale on Saturday at 5 p.m.