HANOVER, N.H. – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team put up a valiant fight after losing the first two sets Sunday against Dartmouth. However, the Big Green reeled off an 11-2 run to close out the fourth set and pulled out a 3-1 victory at Leede Arena. The match was played in front of a national TV audience on ESPNU.
Set scores on Sunday were 25-17, 25-12, 20-25, 25-16.
Penn comes back home with a 1-12 overall record and is 0-3 in Ivy play. Dartmouth improved to 10-3 overall, 2-1 in the Ivies.
Quaker Notemeal
*Senior
Autumn Leak came off the bench for the second time this weekend and ended up leading the Quakers with 12 kills and 34 attacks.
*Senior
Madeline McGregor also reached double figures with 10 kills and added seven digs, a service ace and a block assist.
*Senior
Elizabeth Ford led the Quakers with four block assists and added three kills.
*Freshman
Anna Shohfi went the distance at setter and had 31 assists to go with three kills (.300 hitting percentage), nine digs and two block assists.
*Freshman libero
Abigail Reid had another strong day on defense, leading all players with 17 digs.
How It Happened
Dartmouth scored the first four points and five of the first six and never looked back in the first set. The Quakers got as close as 6-3 before the Big Green reeled off a staggering 10 points in a row to go up 16-3. Penn got back within single digits at 19-10, part of an eight-point run that got the Red and Blue back within four at 19-15. However, Dartmouth scored three in a row after that and were content to trade points after that for the 25-17 win. Leak had four kills in the set while Reid had six digs.
The second set was even early on, but the Big Green broke a 5-5 tie with four straight points and completely dominated from there. Penn traded a pair of points, making it 11-7, but Dartmouth scored seven in a row at that point to make it 18-7 and the hosts cruised from there. McGregor had four kills in the set on eight attacks, a .500 hitting percentage, while Leak had three kills and hit .375.
The third set was a tense affair, the times tying at 13 and 14 before the Dartmouth took a 15-14 lead which sent the teams to the media timeout. The Big Green then won the first two points out of the break and went in front 20-16, forcing a Penn timeout. The break refreshed the Quakers; a Dartmouth service error was followed by a kill from Shohfi that set the Red and Blue off on a set-ending, nine-point run that even a pair of Big Green timeouts couldn't stop. That gave Penn the 25-20 victory.
Dartmouth looked to assert itself in the fourth set, going up 9-4 early, but kills by Shohfi and Leak started a four-point run that made it a 9-8 score. A
Madison Risch service drew Penn level at 10-10, and the teams traded points for ties at 11, 12, 13 and 14. However, a Dartmouth kill started a three-point Big Green run, and then a Leak kill was followed by five more points for the hosts. Overall, it was an 8-1 run that put Dartmouth up 22-15, and Penn got just one more point after that on McGregor's 10th kill of the day.
Up Next
Penn is back at home next weekend, hosting Columbia on Friday night at 7 p.m. and Cornell the next day at 5 p.m.
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