PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team won the first two sets in its match with defending Ivy League champion Brown on Saturday night, but the Bears roared back with wins in the third and fourth sets and another comeback in the fifth to escape The Palestra with a 3-2 victory.
Set scores were 22-25, 24-26, 25-20, 25-7, 15-8.
Penn fell to 2-20 with the loss and is 1-11 heading into the final weekend of Ivy League play. Brown remains firmly in place for a spot in the Ivy League Tournament at 8-4, and is now 12-9 overall.
Quaker Notemeal
*Senior
Madeline McGregor led Penn with 13 kills on Saturday night, hitting .263, and once again showed off her versatility with eight digs, two block assists and an assist.
*Sophomore
Ella Green had 12 assists and two block assists.
*Senior
Autumn Leak hit double figures in kills for the fifth straight match, with 11.
*Junior
Emerson Flornes had six kills and led Penn with three block assists.
*Senior
Elizabeth Ford had five kills and just one error on Saturday night and also had two block assists.
*Freshman libero Abigail Reid once again led all players in digs, with 18, and also had four assists and a service ace; Reid has led or tied for match-high honors in digs in 17 of 22 matches this season including 10 of 12 Ivy matches.
*Freshman setter Anna Shohfi had 38 assists, 10 digs, and a team-high three service aces on Saturday night.
How It Happened
For the first two sets on Saturday night, The Palestra was rocking.
Penn—which took Ivy League leader Yale to five sets the night before—was once again propelled by a raucous home crowd. The Quakers fed off that energy early, jumping out to a 9-3 lead behind three Green kills. The teams traded points through several sideouts, and Penn's lead was still 20-17 when Brown got back-to-back points to get within one for the first time since 4-3. Quakers head coach
Meredith Schamun called a timeout, and out of the break Ford and Green sandwiched kills around a Brown kill. That made it 22-20 Quakers, but Brown got a kill and a block to tie it at 22-22. Schamun again called timeout, and this time it worked as Flornes and McGregor blocked a Brown attack, and then a Flornes kill after a Bears attack error gave the first set to the Quakers. Green had five kills in the set, while Ford had three kills on four attacks.
The second set was tied, 6-6, when a Green kill and a Reid service ace started what became a 6-2 run that gave Penn a 12-8 lead. Brown got within a point at 14-13, but a pair of McGregor kills put Penn back up by three. However, the Bears roared with the next five points to fly right by the Quakers for an 18-16 lead. That grew to 20-17 before kills by Flornes and Green sandwiched around a combined Flornes/Green block tied things at 20-20. Brown scored the next three points, then got to set point at 24-22 after kills by Green and Shohfi. Penn fought both set points off, the first off a Leak kill and the second on a Brown attack error. Then Leak got another kill, giving Penn set point, and Flornes finished things off with an ace. Overall, it was a four-point run (6-1 overall) and the Quakers were in front 2-0 in sets. Green had five kills and his .364 in the set, while McGregor had three kills and Reid had nine digs.
Brown has almost everyone back from a team that rolled to an Ivy title last year. The Bears were never going to go away quietly.
Penn opened the third-set scoring, only for Brown to score the next four. The Bears never looked back, quickly expanding their lead to 8-3 and never letting Penn get as close as three until a four-point Quakers run made it 20-18. Following a Brown timeout, Bruno got the next two points and four of the next five, reaching set point at 24-19. McGregor staved off one with a kill, her fifth of the set, but a service error gave the Bears the set. Leak also had five kills in the third set, hitting .333 on her 12 attacks.
The fourth set was eminently forgettable. It started off innocently enough, Brown's lead a mere 6-5 after a Green kill. However, at that point the Bears reeled off six straight points, and then after a Flornes kill they scored eight in a row. Leak ended that run with a kill, but Brown wasn't done—they won the next five points and closed out the set. Overall, the run was a stunning 19-2.
Penn needed a short memory, and the Quakers appeared to have one as they scored the first four points of the fifth and deciding set including kills by McGregor and Ford and a Shohfi ace. Brown took a timeout and settled down, scoring the first two points out of the break. A McGregor kill made it 5-2, but the Bears again scored twice to get within one. Another McGregor kill got Penn's lead back to two, but Brown scored the next three on a pair of kills and a block for its first lead of the set. A Bears service error tied things at 7-7, but the visitors got a kill, an ace, and a Penn error for a 10-7 lead. A service error gave Penn life and made it 10-8, but the Bears surrendered nothing the rest of the way with a kill, an ace and two blocks to score the final five points of the match.
Up Next
Penn is on the road to close out the 2022 season. The Quakers will be in a New York state of mind when they face Cornell (Friday at 7 p.m.) and Columbia (Saturday at 5 p.m.).
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