PRINCETON, N.J. – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team opened Ivy League play with a 3-0 loss at Princeton on Friday night. Set scores were 25-21, 25-12, 25-13.
 
Penn fell to 1-10 overall while the Tigers improved to 9-2. The match was the Ivy opener for the league rivals and travel partners.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Sophomore Ella Green led Penn with nine kills, falling one kill shy of her third double-digit kill total in four matches, and had a block solo and a block assist.
 
*Junior Madison Risch had eight kills, hit .227 in Friday's match and added four digs, a service ace and an assist.
 
*Senior Elizabeth Ford had five kills (hitting .231) and a block assist.
 
*Freshman Abigail Reid led all players with 12 digs.
 
*Junior Jo Armstrong got the start at setter and had 17 assists, two digs and a kill across the first two sets.
 
*Freshman Anna Shohfi came in at setter for the third set and finished with nine assists, three kills (on three attacks), and two digs.
 
How It Happened
The first set started evenly, the teams trading points to 6-6. However, a Lucia Scalamandre kill set the Tigers off on a 4-1 run for a 10-7 lead. The teams again traded points to 12-10 before another three-point Princeton run made it 15-10. Penn scored the next three points, a Madeline McGregor kill making it 15-13, but the Tigers scored the next two points and eventually stretched the run to 6-2. That made the score 22-16, and while Penn fought off a pair of set points on a Deller kill and a McGregor ace, Princeton eventually pulled out the 25-21 victory. Green had four kills and both of her blocks in the set, while Reid came up with seven digs.
 
Penn held a pair of leads in the second set, at 3-2 and 5-4, but Princeton scored four straight points to go in front 8-5 and never relinquished the advantage. A Risch service ace made the score 10-8, but the Tigers scored four of the next five points—forcing a Penn timeout—and then four more in a row to force a second timeout. By then it was 18-9 and the Tigers traded two points for every Quakers point on the way to the 25-12 victory.
 
Princeton then scored the first three points of the third set, but Penn used kills from Ford, RIsch and Shohfi to get back to 5-4. The lead fluctuated between one and two points to 9-7 before the Tigers scored two in a row to double their advantage. It was still a four-point lead, at 14-10, after a smart Risch attack pushed the ball across the net and just inside the far line. However, at that Princeton made a final push and outscored the Quakers, 11-3, to coast to the win.
 
Up Next
Penn is back on the road next weekend, making the long trip North to face Harvard and Dartmouth. The Quakers face the Crimson on Friday at 7 p.m., then face the Big Green on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. in a match that will air nationally on ESPNU.