PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team gave Ivy League-leading Yale all it could handle Friday night at The Palestra, but the Bulldogs used a huge comeback in the fifth and deciding set to escape with a 3-2 victory.
Set scores were 25-20, 20-25, 25-16, 23-25, 15-11.
Penn fell to 2-19 overall and is now 1-10 in Ivy play. Yale remains unbeaten at 11-0 in league play and is 19-1 overall.
Quaker Notemeal
*On a night when Penn honored its three seniors—
Elizabeth Ford,
Autumn Leak,
Madeline McGregor—it was Leak who truly stood out. She finished the night with a match-high 18 kills. That was a season high and most since she had 21 against Harvard on October 30, 2021. (The player with the second-most kills in Friday's match? That would be Yale's Audrey Leak, Autumn's younger sister, with 15.)
*Ford had nine kills, hitting .294 on the night, and on defense she had Penn's only block solo and two block assists.
*McGregor had just five kills, but the versatile senior once again filled the box score with a career-high 18 digs, three block assists and four assists.
*Freshman
Abigail Reid once again led all players in digs in the match, with a staggering 29.
*Junior
Emerson Flornes matched her season/career high with six block assists, previously set against Temple (on Sept. 17) and Fordham (on Sept. 3).
*Freshman
Anna Shohfi was back at the setter spot after missing last weekend's action. She had 38 assists and 17 digs on Friday night.
*Sophomore
Ella Green had eight kills and three block assists.
How It Happened
On paper, Penn had no business extending Yale like it did. But the indications were there early that this might be a special night. The Quakers went in front by three in the first set, 9-6, and still led 10-8 before the Bulldogs went on a four-point run for a 12-10 lead. Penn hung around, though, and kills by Fornes, Ford and Shohfi had the hosts within one at 17-16. However, a Fatima Samb kill set Yale off on a 4-1 run, and then the Bulldogs responded to a Shohfi kill with two more points. That made it 23-18 and forced a Quakers timeout. The teams traded points the rest of the way, Yale winning 25-20. Shohfi had eight assists and four kills on five attacks for an .800 hitting percentage in the set.
The second set played out similarly to the first, Penn taking a three-point lead at 10-7 but Yale coming back with the next four points and an 11-10 lead. The teams were tied at 11, 13, 14, 15, and 16 before a pair of Bulldogs kills put them in front. The service game came into play after that, a Yale service error followed by back-to-back aces from Shohfi which put Penn back in front, 19-18. The Bulldogs called timeout, but out of the break McGregor and Ford blocked a Yale attack and then another Yale attack error made it a three-point margin. The visitors took another timeout down 22-18 and got as close as 23-20, but a pair of Green kills closed things out and sent the teams to the break tied, 1-1. Leak had four kills on seven attacks for a .571 hitting set, while Reid had nine digs.
The third set was tied at 6-6 before Yale sandwiched a pair of four-point runs around a Flornes kill. That made it 14-7 Bulldogs. A Yale attack error briefly curtailed the visitors, but only briefly as the Bulldogs rolled off five in a row after that. Overall, it was a 13-2 run for a 19-8 lead. Yale cruised from there.
Needing to win the fourth to stay alive, Penn responded in a set that featured six lead changes and 10 ties. Things looked bleak late, when an Audrey Leak kill put Yale in front 23-20. That was the Bulldogs' fourth straight point and forced a Quakers timeout. Out of the break, kills by Green and Leak got the Red and Blue within a point and forced a Yale timeout. No matter. On consecutive plays Autumn (with Flornes) got the better of her younger sister, the duo blocking two of Audrey's attacks for Penn points. That left the Quakers with set point, and Yale took its second and final timeout. However, Leak was on fire at this point and so it was only natural that she should send this match to a fifth with her sixth kill of the set. Ford also was particularly opportunistic in the fourth, with five kills on six attacks for an .833 set.
Penn rode the fourth-set momentum into the early parts of the fifth, rolling out to three of the first four points and then turning a 4-3 lead into an 8-3 advantage on the strength of a Ford kill, a Ford block solo, a Green kill, and a
Madison Risch service ace. Unfortunately, the teams switched benches at that point and it seemed the momentum stayed behind for Yale. The Bulldogs roared back with six straight points to take a 9-8 lead, a Penn timeout helpless against the onslaught. A Ford kill broke the string, and the teams traded the next two points to get to 10-10. Yale won the next two points, before a McGregor kill made it 12-11. However, a pair of Quakers attack errors gave the Bulldogs match point, and a service ace closed it out.
Up Next
Penn is back at The Palestra tomorrow night, hosting Brown at 5 p.m. The Bears pushed second-place Princeton to the limit on Friday night, falling 3-2 with the Tigers winning the fifth set 18-16.
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