PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team is back in New England this weekend, making another trip North to close out the first half of the Ivy League slate with their fourth and fifth road matches already of this conference campaign
 
MATCH 16 – PENN at BROWN
Friday, Oct. 14 | 7 p.m.
Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
 
MATCH 17 – PENN at YALE
Saturday, Oct. 15 | 5 p.m.
Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
 
Ivy League on ESPN
A reminder that the Ivy League is paired with ESPN and you will be able to find all Penn home games, as well as road Ivy matches and select non-conference road games, on ESPN+ this fall with the same high broadcast quality you've come to expect. ESPN+ is a subscription-based service that offers monthly and yearly packages. Click here to subscribe to ESPN+!
 
The Series with Brown
The Quakers and Bears have been relatively level through the years, including the last 10 meetings that have seen the teams go 5-5 against each other. That said, it was the Bears who swept the season series last year, taking a 3-1 decision at The Palestra and then sweeping the Quakers three weeks later in Providence. Penn's last win at Brown came in 2017.
 
About Brown
The Bears are the defending Ivy League champion and currently sit a game out of first place at 4-1. They opened with a loss to Yale but are unbeaten in their last four. Beau Vanderlaan is third among Ivy players in kills per set in Ivy play (3.50), but her hitting percentage (.514) leads the league. She is also second in blocks per set in Ivy play (1.33). She was a unanimous pick as Ivy League Rookie of the year last year. Cierra Jenkins was last year's Ivy League Player of the Year while Victoria Vo was voted Defensive Player of the Year. All three of them were first-team All-Ivy picks a year ago along with Sophia Miller and Kate Sheire.. All five are back.
 
The Series with Yale
The Bulldogs have dominated this series of late, winning five in a row, 11 of the last 12, and 17 of the last 19 meetings. They swept the series last year, taking a 3-1 decision at The Palestra and then eking out a 3-2 decision in New Haven. Penn's last win in New Haven came in the 2010 Ivy League Playoff which sent the Quakers to the NCAA Championship that season.
 
About Yale
The Bulldogs are 5-0 in Ivy play, tied with Princeton; they play on Friday night, ahead of Saturday's matchup with Penn. Audrey Leak—yes, the younger sister of Penn senior Autumn Leak—averages 3.56 kills per set in Ivy play, second in the league. Mila Yarich leads Yale with 177 kills, followed by Leak (153) and Cara Shultz (136). Carly Diehl, who was honorable mention All-Ivy last year, has a team-high 562 assists at setter while Shultz (35) and Maile Somera (25) lead in service aces. Defensively, Somera averages 4.00 digs per set while Fatima Samb (31.0) and Leak (27.0) lead the net blockers.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn is 2-13 overall and ended an 11-match losing streak in dramatic fashion last Saturday, winning the final two sets to beat Cornell, 3-2.
 
*Penn's record is a bit misleading, however; the Quakers have been pretty competitive in most of their matches. Of the 42 sets lost this season, the Red and Blue have fallen 28-26 twice, 25-23 five times, and 25-22 seven times. They also have hit 20 and 21 three times each in set losses.
 
*Sophomore Ella Green led Penn's attack last weekend, recording 11 kills on Friday and 14 in the win over the Big Red. She has reached double digits in kills in five of Penn's last eight matches after not doing so in the first five.
 
*Autumn Leak continues to impress. She had 13 kills in the win over Cornell, her fifth double-digit kill performance across her last seven appearances.
 
*Another senior, Madeline McGregor, continues to lead the team with 130 kills, but Leak tops the squad in kills per set (2.97). Green has 105 kills (2.39 k/s).
 
*Freshman Anna Shohfi enters this weekend leading the team with 293 assists and remains fourth among Ivy players in overall assists per set (8.09).
 
*Freshman Abigail Reid, Penn's libero, remains second among Ivy League in digs per set, both overall (4.48) and in Ivy play (4.10). She is behind Princeton's Cameron Dames on the overall list and Dartmouth's Emma Engstrom on the Ivy list.
 
*Reid also has 15 service aces this season, tops on the team ahead of McGregor (14) and junior Madison Risch (10). Don't be surprised to see Risch, fellow juniors Julia Bradshaw and Tatum DeMann, and sophomore Kat Alexander brought on to serve through Penn's rotations.
 
*McGregor also leads Penn with 33.0 blocks this season (1s/32a) after collecting 10 block assists last week, four vs. Columbia and six against Cornell. She is followed closely by freshman Claire Deller who has 29.0 (2s/27a) and junior Emerson Flornes who has 28.0 (2s/26a).
 
*Senior Elizabeth Ford has just 33 kills this season but remains Penn's most opportunistic hitter with a .306 hitting percentage. She also has 13.0 blocks (2s/11a).
 
*Reid and Deller have both earned all-tournament honors this season, Reid getting hers the first weekend of the season at Fordham's Rose Hill Classic and Deller being honored two weeks later at Penn's Sheraton University City Invitational.
 
*Penn started 14 different players during the non-conference portion of the season, as head coach Meredith Schamun and her staff continued to tinker with the lineup ahead of the Ivy opener. Only two players have started all 13 matches to date: McGregor and Reid.
 
*Penn's trip to the Golden State the second week of the season—the Quakers lost matches to CSU-Northridge, Saint Mary's College, and the University of San Francisco—represented a relative homecoming for several members of Penn's team. In fact, nearly half of Penn's roster (seven of 16 players) hails from California including two who consider the Bay Area home: junior Madison Risch (Lafayette) and sophomore Ella Green (Greenbrae). The others are junior Emerson Flornes (Laguna Beach); sophomores Kat Alexander (Los Angeles) and Kaya Johnson (L.A.); and freshmen Claire Deller (Del Mar) and Jalen Tennyson (L.A.). Three of them—Alexander, Johnson and Tennyson—also attended the Marlborough School together.
 
*Penn opened the 2022 campaign at Fordham's Rose Hill Classic, going 1-2 with losses to Niagara (3-1) and the host Rams (3-0) but ending the weekend with a win over Fairleigh Dickinson (3-1).
 
*Penn went 8-15 overall last year and finished sixth in the Ivy League with a 5-9 record. In the Ivy League's 2022 preseason media poll released last week, the Quakers were picked to finish sixth again.
 
*Although she was hired in March 2020, this is only Schamun's second season as head coach of the Quakers. Penn did not play a 2020 season due to Ivy League restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
*Seniors Ford, Leak and McGregor are the 2022 team captains.