CHICAGO – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team was beaten twice to start play at the DePaul Invitational Friday. The Quakers dropped a close, 3-1 (19-25, 26-24, 25-21, 25-21) match to Akron to start the day, then fell to Oakland 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-13) in the nightcap.
 
Penn is now 3-2 on the season and will conclude play with the host Blue Demons on Saturday at 11 a.m. (noon ET).
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Junior captain Autumn Leak led Penn in Friday's matches with 17 kills against Akron and then 12 more kills (.360 hitting percentage) against Oakland. The reigning Ivy League Player of the Week also had eight digs, four block assists and a service ace on Friday.
 
*Sophomore Madison Risch had eight kills against Akron, hitting .368 in the match, and also had nine digs and an assist.
 
*Sophomore Emerson Flornes had eight kills against Akron as well as four block assists and two assists, then followed up with five kills, two digs and two block assists against Oakland.
 
*Kicking off a homecoming for her and three of her teammates, senior captain Margaret Planek had six kills against Akron and then seven against Oakland (.312 hitting percentage).
 
*Senior Daniela Fornaciari and junior Madeline McGregor also had six kills against Akron; McGregor followed up with five more against Oakland.
 
*Freshman setter Sydney Ormiston led Penn with 37 assists on the day, 21 against Akron and 16 against Oakland,
 
*Junior libero Caroline Douglas had a team-high 25 digs in Friday's first match.
 
MATCH 1: Akron
The first set between the Quakers and the Zips was a doozy. The teams tied nine times and changed leads five times. At 15-15, Penn went on a three-point run that was spurred by a pair of Planek kills, and from there the Red and Blue pulled away for a 25-19 win.
 
Akron took control early in the second set, using a 6-1 run to turn a 4-4 deadlock into a 10-5 advantage. The Zips' lead was 20-15 when a Risch kill spurred a four-point run that got the Quakers within a point, and then a McGregor kill brought the Red and Blue level at 24-24. However, at that point Akron's Alexis Adleta and Teagan Ochaya had kills to give the Zips the 26-24 set victory.
 
Akron used another fast start in the third set, going up 9-4. Penn again showed resilience and got as close as 21-20 on a Flornes kill. The Zips took control from there, though, scoring four of the next five points to take the third set.
 
The fourth set was tied 6-6 when Akron hit a four-point run to go up 10-6. This time around, Penn could not quite come back—the closest the Quakers got was three points on a few occasions before the Zips closed it out.
 
MATCH 2: Oakland (Mich.)
Penn scored the first three points of the first set, and held that lead most of the way with the largest advantage coming at four points. The Golden Grizzlies whittled away, though, and finally caught up at 16-16. From there the teams tied at 18, 19, 20 and 21 before a couple of Penn errors opened the door. Oakland took advantage and pulled out the 25-23 victory.
 
An early three-point Oakland run in the second set turned a 3-3 tie into a 6-3 Grizzlies advantage. Penn got within a point once, at 7-6, but Oakland scored the next four points and had control the rest of the way.
 
In the third set, Oakland used another early three-point run to gain a lead it would not relinquish. It was 10-6 when the Grizzlies went on a 4-1 run to make it 14-7, then responded to a Planek kill with the next four points. That sealed the deal.