PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team won the first set but fell in three closely contested sets after that in falling to Harvard Saturday night at The Palestra, 3-1.
The Quakers won the first set on Saturday night, 25-19, but fell in the next three sets 25-22, 25-22, 25-23.
Penn is now 2-18 overall and 1-9 in Ivy League play. Harvard improved to 5-13 overall, 4-6 in Ivy play.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn had just five players with kills on Saturday night as senior
Autumn Leak led the way with 15,
Emerson Flornes had a career-high 11, and
Elizabeth Ford,
Ella Green and
Madeline McGregor all had nine.
*Penn hit a season-high .295 as a team (53-17-122), led by Ford (.438) and Flornes (.409); the Quakers' ratio of kills (53) to errors (17) was its best this season, matching exactly the same ratio against Cornell on October 8.
*Junior
Jo Armstrong was once again running the show at setter on Saturday; she had 45 assists with a season-best .433 setting percentage.
*Freshman Abigail Reid once again led all players in the match in digs, with 14. McGregor had seven, while Armstrong had six.
*Penn tied a season high with nine service aces (originally set against FDU the first weekend of the season) as Flornes had three while Reid, McGregor and junior
Julia Bradshaw had two each.
*Ford led Penn with two block assists, while Armstrong and Leak had one each.
How It Happened
The first set ended up being the most lopsided of the match. The Quakers were down 5-3 early but turned it around with five of the next six points to go in front 8-6. That lead eventually grew to 12-8, and then a six-point run pushed the Red and Blue in front by nine at 19-10. Harvard responded with its own six-point run to get back within three, at 19-16, but Penn got kills from McGregor, Flornes and Leak for a 3-1 run to re-establish the margin at 22-17. From there the Quakers were content to trade points en route to the 25-19 victory. Leak hit a magnificent .600 in the set, with six kills on 10 attacks.
Penn then went in front 5-2 to start the second, but Harvard clawed back with four of the next five points to get level at 6-6. The teams then tied at 7 and 8 before a 4-1 Crimson run pushed them in front 12-9. A pair of Harvard errors were followed by a Flornes kill, leveling things at 12, and the teams tied again at 14 before Saturday's visitors scored a modest two-point run for a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Harvard's largest lead the rest of the way was three, the first time at 20-17 with the teams literally trading points the rest of the way to Harvard's 25-22 win. Flornes had four kills on five attacks for an .800 hitting set.
The teams were tied in the third set, 7-7, when Harvard went on a 7-2 run to go in front 14-9. A Leak kill and Flornes ace stopped the bleeding and was the start of a 4-1 run that got the Quakers back within two, at 15-13. Harvard rallied and expanded its lead to 20-16, but the Penn offense again came alive with kills by Green, Leak and McGregor and service aces by Bradshaw and Flornes to tie things at 21-21. However, Katie Vorhies had kills on the next two points for Harvard, and then an Olivia Cooper ace put the Crimson on set point. Penn held off one, Leak getting the kill, but Harvard won the next point for the 25-22 set win. Leak had six more kills in the set, hitting .286.
The fourth set encapsulated this match, as the teams were tied 15 different times and were never separated by more than two points from 9-7 onward. The final tie came at 23-23, before a Bella Almanza kill put the Crimson on match point. The final point was a weird one, the Quakers winning it on an
Ella Green block but the Crimson successfully challenging a play away from the ball. That reversed the score, giving Harvard the point and the 25-23 win.
Up Next
Penn closes out this five-match Ivy League homestand next Friday and Saturday, hosting Yale on Friday at 7 p.m. and Brown on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Quakers will honor their outgoing seniors prior to the match with the Bears.
#FightOnPenn
