PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team began a five-match homestand with a 3-1 loss to Princeton on Friday night. Set scores were 25-14, 23-25, 25-20, 25-17.
Penn fell to 2-16 overall and is 1-7 in Ivy play, while the Tigers remain in second place in the Ivy standings at 7-1 and are 15-3 overall.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn had three different players reach double figures in kills as senior
Autumn Leak had 11 while senior
Madeline McGregor and sophomore
Ella Green had 10 each.
*Junior
Emerson Flornes and freshman
Claire Deller had six kills each, Flornes hitting a team-high .214 on the night.
*Green had Penn's only block solo and added a block assist while Deller, Flornes and Shohfi had two block assists each.
*Freshman
Abigail Reid once again led all players with 21 digs on Friday night. Junior
Julia Bradshaw had nine digs, while McGregor had seven.
*Freshman
Anna Shohfi led Penn with 35 assists, added 14 digs, and also had four kills on the night.
*Flornes and sophomore
Kat Alexander had two service aces each to lead Penn in that category.
How It Happened
Princeton went up 4-1 early and never relinquished its lead in the first set. Penn got within two several times, the last at 9-7 on a Green kill, but the Tigers scored the next three points to go up by five then responded to a Shohfi kill with two more points. That made the score 14-8, and after a Flornes kill Princeton scored three more in a row. Overall, it was an 8-2 run and the Tigers cruised to the win from there. Flornes had five kills in the opening set, hitting .571.
The second set featured 10 ties as a strong Homecoming crowd responded to the Quakers' fight. The last tie came at 17-17, at which point a pair of McGregor kills forced a Princeton timeout. Out of the break, Alexander dished up a service ace and then a Tigers attack error made it a four-point run for a 21-17 Penn lead. The Tigers took another timeout and scored the first two points out of that respite. However, Flornes and McGregor came up with a block for the next point, and then a Green kill made it 23-20. Deller made it 24-21 with a kill, before a pair of Princeton kills made it a one-point game. Head coach
Meredith Schamun called a timeout to settle her charges, and the break worked as Leak got the kill to send the teams to the break tied 1-1 in sets. Penn hit .351 in the set led by Deller (3 kills, .600), Green (4 kills, .375) and McGregor (3 kills, .429).
The third set followed a similar pattern, the teams tying 11 times and changing leads six times. However, the Tigers flexed their muscles at 19-19, Melina Mahood coming up with a pair of kills to push the visitors in front. Penn took a timeout, but out of the break a Quakers attack error was followed by an Avery Luoma kill to give the Tigers a 23-19 advantage. Penn again called timeout, and a McGregor kill briefly stopped the Princeton run. Only briefly, as it turned out, the Tigers scoring the next two points to close out a closer-than-it-looked third set, 25-20. Leak had four kills in the set, hitting .300 in the process.
Penn and Princeton were tight for much of the fourth set, as well, but the Tigers used a 6-1 run to turn an 8-7 advantage into a 14-8 lead. The teams traded points through numerous sideouts after that, Penn staying within four to 18-14. However, Princeton scored three in a row with a pair of kills and a Quakers attack error. That made it 21-14, and the Tigers were content to trade points the rest of the way in gaining the victory.
Up Next
Penn is back at home each of the next two weekends, starting next Friday and Saturday when the Quakers host Dartmouth and Harvard. The Big Green will be in town for a 7 p.m. start on Friday, while Penn hosts the Crimson Saturday at 5 p.m.
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