PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team closed out the non-conference portion of its 2022 season on Tuesday night with a dramatic, 3-2 loss to Lehigh at The Palestra. The Quakers (1-9) were down 2-0 after losing the first two sets, rallied back to win the third and fourth sets, but couldn't complete the comeback as the Mountain Hawks (9-5) escaped with the five-set victory.
 
Set scores were 25-17, 25-23, 16-25, 19-25, 15-12.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*This was Penn's first five-set match of 2022; the Quakers are 2-3 in five-setters under head coach Meredith Schamun.
 
*Penn continues to lead the all-time series with Lehigh, 7-5, but has lost four in a row to the Mountain Hawks dating back to the 2018 season.
 
*Sophomore Ella Green set a career high with 16 kills and hit .250 on Tuesday night. It was her second time reaching double digits in kills in the last three matches.
 
*Green also finished one dig shy of a double-double and added two service aces and a block assist.
 
*Senior Madeline McGregor had 15 kills and added seven digs and three block assists. It was her second straight match with a double-digit kill total and fifth this season.
 
*Junior Jo Armstrong once again went the distance at setter and had 51 assists along with 11 digs, a service ace and a block assist.
 
*After missing Penn's matches over the weekend, senior Elizabeth Ford returned to the lineup and led the Quakers with four block assists, adding six kills and a dig.
 
*Freshman Abigail Reid stuck 33 digs—a season/career high and a staggering 6.60 assists/set—and added three service aces while sophomore Kat Alexander had 10 digs.
 
How It Happened
The first set was tied 2-2 when Lehigh ripped off four points in a row, then answered Penn's third point with another five-point run. That made the score 11-3 and the Quakers never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
 
The second set was a much tighter affair, the teams tying eight times. However, Lehigh always had the answer as Penn's only leads in the set were 1-0 and 2-1. The Mountain Hawks were up 20-17 when McGregor and Green served up kills to start a three-point run that tied things at 20-20. However, a Penn attack error and a service ace put Lehigh back in front by two and they never relinquished that advantage. The teams traded points the rest of the way, and while Green staved off one set point with a kill to make it 24-23 an Emily Stewart kill gave the visiting Mountain Hawks a 2-0 lead in sets. McGregor had seven kills in the set, hitting .500, while Green had four kills and five digs.
 
Its back against the wall, Penn roared out to a 7-2 lead to start the third set. It was still 10-5 when Tatum DeMann came into the match to serve for the Quakers. She would do so six times in a row as Penn extended its lead to 16-5 and essentially put the set away. Lehigh got as close as seven points, but at 23-16 Armstrong finished an attack on two and Lehigh had an attack error to end things. Green had four kills and hit .444 in the set, while Ford had half of her kills on the night in the third set.

SET 3 FINAL | Penn (1) 25, Lehigh (2) 16

TOLD YOU! THE COMEBACK IS ON!! On to Set 4...#FightOnPenn ?????? pic.twitter.com/OZhXNacF9e

— Penn Volleyball (@PennVolleyball) September 21, 2022

Buoyed by the win, Penn rattled off the first five points of the fourth set to force a Lehigh timeout. The Mountain Hawks scored out of the break, and the teams traded points for several sideouts until a 4-0 Quakers run turned a 15-11 lead into an eight-point bulge. Green had kills on the front and back end of the mini-run. Lehigh got as close as four on two occasions, at 22-18 and 23-19, but a Mountain Hawks attack error and an Armstrong service ace sent the match to a deciding fifth set. Green had seven kills and hit .700 in the set, while Reid had a staggering 11 digs.

SET 4 FINAL | Penn (2) 25, Lehigh (2) 19

WHAT DID WE SAY?!?! Jo with the ace...FIFTH SET, HERE WE COME!
??ESPN+ ($) | https://t.co/5AEq0UOb2X
??https://t.co/OzIIHBPynl#FightOnPenn ?????? pic.twitter.com/Idemch3Xwz

— Penn Volleyball (@PennVolleyball) September 21, 2022

Penn opened the fifth-set scoring on a Lehigh set error, but the Mountain Hawks scored the next three points and soon led 5-2. Ford had a kill and a block assist (with McGregor) to spur a four-point Quakers run that put them in front, 6-5, but a pair of Penn errors were followed by two Lehigh kills and gave the Mountain Hawks a 9-6 lead. Penn took a timeout, McGregor coming out of the break with a kill to start a two-point run that made it 9-8. The teams traded the next six points, a McGregor kill making it 10-9 and a Madison Risch kill making it 12-11, before a Lehigh attack error tied things up at 12-12. However, the Mountain Hawks scored the last three points to clinch the victory, Penn committing two attack errors around a Kyleigh Brown kill.
 
Up Next
It's all Ivy League the rest of the way, starting Friday when the Quakers are at Princeton. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at Dillon Gym on the Princeton campus.