NEW YORK CITY – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team nearly pulled off the reverse sweep in its 2022 season finale on Saturday night at Columbia. The Quakers were down 2-0 in sets, rallied back to win the third and fourth, and were ahead in the fifth before the Lions rallied to gain a 15-13 win and take the match, 3-2.
 
Set scores were 25-22, 25-19, 23-25, 22-25, 15-13.
 
Penn ended its season with a 2-22 record and went 1-13 in Ivy League play. Columbia finished the campaign 6-17 overall and 3-11 in Ivy play.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*In her final match wearing the Red and Blue, senior Autumn Leak led all players with a season-high 20 kills, hitting .368 on the night.
 
*Sophomore Ella Green had 13 kills, her third straight time reaching double figures in that column, and also had the Quakers' only block solo.
 
*Elizabeth Ford, another senior playing her final match for Penn, had a career-high 10 kills and hit .333 on the night. She also had three service aces and two block assists.
 
*Penn's third senior, Madeline McGregor, had nine kills, seven digs, two block assists, a service ace and an assist in her final collegiate match.
 
*Freshman Jalen Tennyson started up front on Saturday, led Penn with four block assists, and had five kills without an error on 12 attempts for a .417 hitting percentage.
 
*Freshman Abigail Reid once again led all players with 25 digs; in fact, that was more than twice as many as any other players.
 
*Freshman Anna Shohfi had 48 assists, most since she put up 50 in her collegiate debut against Niagara on September 2.
 
How It Happened
The first set was indicative of how this night would go. The teams were tied eight times and changed leads five times. Columbia used a six-point run midway through the set to turn a 12-10 deficit into a 16-12 lead, but Penn recovered with six of the next seven points and went back in front 18-17 when Shohfi and Tennyson blocked a Lions attack. The teams tied at 18, 19 and 20 before a pair of Columbia kills put the hosts in front. The teams traded points to 23-22, but a pair of Noelle Foster kills gave the Lions a 25-22 win. Ford had four kills on five attacks in the set, while Green had three on four attacks.
 
The second set had nine ties and four lead changes, but the critical juncture came with Columbia leading 17-16. The Lions rattled off four straight points to go in front 21-16 and were content to trade points the rest of the set en route to the 25-19 victory. Leak had four kills without an error on 10 attacks in the set (.400).
 
Out of the break, Penn scored four of the first five points in the third set and never relinquished the lead. The Quakers eventually doubled the Lions up, 14-7, but the hosts roared back and eventually leveled things at 21-21 with a 5-1 run. The teams traded points to 22-22, but a Columbia attack error and a Ford service ace gave the Quakers set point. A service error made it 24-23, but a Green kill gave Penn the set and kept hope alive. Reid had nine digs in the critical set.
 
The fourth set was another taut affair, the teams tying nine times and neither team ever holding a lead larger than four points. That was Columbia at 18-14, the end of a five-point run, but Penn recovered with a five-point run of its own to go back in front, 19-18. A Lions kill tied it at 19, but Leak and Ford kills put Penn in front by two and they never gave that lead up. Columbia got within one twice, at 21-20 and against at 23-22, but kills by Ford and McGregor sent this to a fifth set. Leak had six kills with one error on eight attacks (.625).
 
Riding the momentum, Penn scored four of the first five points in the decisive fifth, forcing a Columbia timeout. The lead crested at four three times, the last at 10-6, but the Lions popped a four-point streak on the strength of three straight kills to tie things up. A Leak kill stopped the run, and the teams traded the next four points which put Penn in front 13-12. However, at that point Saj McBurrows took over for the host Lions, putting down kills on the final three points to give Columbia the win. Leak had three kills without an error on four attacks (.750).
 
Up Next
The season is over.