PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team heads to the West Coast this weekend to face three California opponents. The Quakers are in the Bay Area for a trio of matches, starting with a neutral-site affair Friday morning against Cal State-Northridge in Moraga followed by true road matches against Saint Mary's (Friday night) and San Francisco (Saturday afternoon).
 
MATCH 4 – Penn vs. CSU-Northridge
Friday, Sept. 9 | 11 a.m. (2 p.m. EDT)
Live Stats
 
MATCH 5 – Penn at Saint Mary's
Friday, Sept. 9 | 7 p.m. (10 p.m. EDT)
Watch on WCC Network ($) | Live Stats
 
MATCH 6 – Penn at San Francisco
Saturday, Sept. 10 | 1 p.m. (4 p.m. EDT)
Watch on WCC Network ($) | Live Stats
 
About CSUN
The Matadors are 1-5 through two weekends. Nicole Nevarez has a team-high 73 kills, hitting .238, while Lauryn Anderson is hitting .330 and has 49 kills. Carisa Barron and Emily Sparks share the setter duties, Barron leading the team with 118 assists while Sparks has 81 (to go with a team-high 10 service aces). Breanna Mitchell leads CSUN with 90 digs (4.29 d/s) while Anderson tops the squad with 18 blocks (3s/15a) and Taylor Hunter is second with 14 (3s/11a).
 
About Saint Mary's
The Gaels are winless entering the weekend (0-4) but will be rested while the Quakers play their second match on Friday. Hawley Harrer has 46 kills to lead SMC's attack, followed by Genevieve Bane (37) and Kjersti Strong (27). Strong also leads the team with 13 blocks (3s/10a). Ella Sandt has 94 assists followed by Hailee Garcia who has 31, while Makenna Joyce has a team-high 41 digs followed by Bane (34).
 
About San Francisco
The Dons enter the weekend undefeated (6-0) and will play CSUN on Friday ahead of their match with the Quakers. Shyla Richardson leads the attack with 67 kills, while Claire Crijins has 64 kills. Orsula Staka has 49 kills and is hitting an impressive .358. Aylen Ayub is the primary setter and has 160 assists already this season (8.42 a/s). Staka leads USF with 21 blocks (3s/18a) while Crijins has 15 block assists and Lindsay Oldendorf has 14 blocks (3s/11a). Crijins also has 10 service aces.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*This trip represents a relative homecoming for several members of Penn's team. In fact, nearly half of Penn's roster (eight of 18 players) hails from California including two who consider the Bay Area home: junior Madison Risch (Lafayette) and sophomore Ella Green (Greenbrae). The others are junior Emerson Flornes (Laguna Beach); sophomores Sydney Ormiston (Murrieta), Kat Alexander (Los Angeles) and Kaya Johnson (L.A.); and freshmen Claire Deller (Del Mar) and Jalen Tennyson (L.A.). Three of them—Alexander, Johnson and Tennyson—also attended the Marlborough School together.
 
*Penn opened the 2022 campaign last weekend at Fordham's Rose Hill Classic, going 1-2 with losses to Niagara (3-1) and the host Rams (3-0) but ending the weekend with a win over Fairleigh Dickinson (3-1).
 
*The match scores against Niagara and Fordham were not at all indicative of how close those matches were. Penn lost six of seven sets but scored 23 points twice, 22 points twice, and 20 once among those six lost sets.
 
*Freshman Abigail Reid was named to the all-tournament team after the weekend. The libero led Penn with 55 digs (5.00 d/s) which has her 28th nationally entering the weekend. She also had five service aces, which is second on the team behind senior Madeline McGregor who had six.
 
*Another freshman, Anna Shohfi, joined Reid on the Ivy League's weekly honor roll on Monday. The setter showed off a well-rounded game with a team-high 116 assists (10.55 a/s). She was opportunistic on attack, as well, with 15 kills and a .379 hitting percentage. Shohfi also ended the weekend second in digs (31) and had two block assists.
 
*Risch led Penn's attack last weekend, with 41 kills (3.73 k/s) and a .209 hitting percentage. McGregor ended the weekend with 34 kills (3.09 k/s) while senior Autumn Leak had 21 kills (3.00 k/s) after sitting out Friday's opener. She hit .235 on the weekend.
 
*Flornes led Penn with 10 block assists last weekend, while McGregor had eight. Risch was third on the team, with the Quakers' only two block solos of the weekend and added four block assists for six total.
 
*Penn went 8-15 overall last year and finished sixth in the Ivy League with a 5-9 record. In the Ivy League's 2022 preseason media poll released last week, the Quakers were picked to finish sixth again.
 
*Penn returns two of its top four attackers from a year ago in seniors Autumn Leak and Madeline McGregor. Leak led the Quakers with 314 kills in 2021, hitting .247, and has 514 kills through two full seasons of play. (Penn did not play in 2020 due to Ivy League restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic.) McGregor, meanwhile, had 170 kills last year.
 
*Sophomore Sydney Ormiston had 350 assists last year and is tops among returning players in that category.
 
*Penn's top two blockers from last year are gone, but six players who reached double figures in that category return led by Flornes with 35 (3s/32a), Leak with 34 (1s/33a), Paige Gillon with 28 (6s/22a) and McGregor with 26 (1s/25a). In addition, senior Elizabeth Ford started the 2021 season at middle blocker and had 12 blocks in 10 sets before a season-ending injury shut her down.
 
*One area that is up for grabs is libero/defensive specialist. The top four players in digs last year are gone, and only one returning player had more than 100 (Leak, with 104). Expect junior Julia Bradshaw and sophomore Kat Alexander to see time as Penn looks to solidify that spot.
 
*Although she was hired in March 2020, this will only be Schamun's second season as head coach of the Quakers. Penn did not play a 2020 season due to Ivy League restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
*Seniors Ford, Leak and McGregor will serve as the 2022 team captains.