Skip To Main Content

University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Autumn Leak vs. Bucknell 09-03-21
Don Felice
Autumn Leak had a career-high 16 kills in Friday's opener vs. Bucknell.
0
Bucknell Buck 2-2,0-0 Patriot
3
Winner Penn Penn 1-0,0-0 Ivy League
Bucknell Buck
2-2,0-0 Patriot
0
Final
3
Penn Penn
1-0,0-0 Ivy League
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Bucknell Buck 15 21 21 (0)
Penn Penn 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Volleyball Sweeps Bucknell, 3-0, For Schamun's First Win

PHILADELPHIA – Behind a career-high 16 kills from junior captain Autumn Leak, the University of Pennsylvania volleyball team rang in the Meredith Schamun coaching era in style on Friday night, electrifying a tremendous crowd with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-21) victory over Bucknell. The match was the Quakers' first in the Sheraton University City Invitational, which concludes with four matches on Saturday.
 
In Friday's opening match, Coppin State defeated Canisius, 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-20, 27-25).
 
Saturday's schedule…
10 a.m. – Penn vs. Canisius
1 p.m. – Bucknell vs. Canisius
4 p.m. – Coppin State vs. Bucknell
7 p.m. – Penn vs. Coppin State
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn hit a solid .297 as a team on Friday night, with 38 kills and just 11 errors on 91 attacks.
 
*Despite the match only needing three sets, Leak's 16 kills bested her previous best of 15, which she did in a three-setter against Brown and two four-setters her freshman year.
 
*Junior Elizabeth Ford, who played just one match as a freshman, was in the starting lineup Friday night and contributed five kills (.500 hitting percentage) and a team-high four block assists.
 
*Senior Daniela Fornaciari also had five kills on Friday night and hit .625 for the match.
 
*Senior captain Margaret Planek came on late in Set 3 on Friday and was a sparkplug down the stretch with a service ace, a block, and three kills including the one that clinched the match.
 
*In her collegiate debut, sophomore Madison Risch led Penn with nine digs and added four kills and a block assist.
 
*After playing just three matches her freshman year, junior Madeline McGregor started on Friday and had seven digs. Her classmate, Caroline Douglas, had six digs.
 
*Freshman Sydney Ormiston got the start at setter and had 28 assists in her collegiate debut.
 
How It Happened
With a large crowd on hand at The Palestra—including several student-athletes—the Quakers got off to a fast start. With Penn up, 6-5, Risch and Fornaciari had back-to-back kills to jump-start a 4-0 run that made it 10-5. Bucknell scored the next two points but Penn responded with three straight as Leak sandwiched a pair of kills around a Ford kill for a 13-7 lead. Bucknell never got closer than five points after that, and a final Ford kill helped put the first set to rest at 25-15.
 
The second set was a back-and-forth affair, Penn jumping out to a 6-1 lead but Bucknell coming back to take a 9-8 advantage. The teams were tied at 9-9, 10-10, 11-11, 12-12 and 13-13 before the Bison scored two straight points only for the Quakers to get the next two. From there it went 16-16, 18-18, 19-19, and 20-20.
 
At that point, Bucknell became its own worst enemy. The Bison committed three straight attack errors, giving Penn a 23-20 lead, and then a Leak kill made it 24-20. Bucknell's Jennie Burke stopped the run with a kill to make the score 24-21, but Leak hammered home another kill to end the set.
 
Penn jumped out quickly in the third set, 5-1, and while Bucknell eventually drew level twice (at 11-11 and 16-16) the Quakers never trailed. At 11-11, kills by Leak and Planek spurred a three-point run. The Bison again came back, but at 16-16 Planek sandwiched a service ace between a pair of Bucknell attack errors that put Penn ahead for good, 19-16.
 
The teams traded points for a few rallies, Bucknell getting as close as two points on three separate occasions, but a Bison attack error and Planek's final kill sealed the victory.
 
#FightOnPenn
 
 
Print Friendly Version