PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team gave Cornell a great battle through two sets on Friday night at The Palestra, but the Big Red asserted itself in the third and fourth sets and came away with a 3-1 win.
Set scores were 26-24, 23-25, 25-18, 25-12.
Penn falls to 2-15 overall and 0-7 in Ivy League play, while Cornell is now 5-10 overall and 3-3 in the Ivies.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn got nine kills from freshman
Zada Sanger on Friday night, while fellow freshman
Bella Rittenberg and junior
Ella Green added eight apiece.
*Sanger also had Penn's only block solo on Friday night and added three digs and a service ace.
*Sophomore
Claire Deller had five kills and led Penn with three block assists, adding four digs.
*Junior
Kaya Johnson got the start in the middle and finished the night with four kills (hitting .500) and two block assists.
*Sophomore libero
Abigail Reid once again led all players with 19 digs—the second-place player in the match, Sarita Pomar of Cornell, had 10—making it six times in eight matches that Reid has led all players in that category. Junior
Kat Alexander had eight digs.
*Senior setter
Jo Armstrong had 32 assists on the night.
*Senior
Madison Risch tied for match-high honors with three service aces—she also had five digs—while Rittenberg and Johnson had two each.
*Cornell boasts the Ivy League's leading hitter in Eliza Konvicka, and she lived up to her billing on Friday with a match-high 17 kills. Nicole Mallus and Camryn Carlo had eight apiece—Carlo hitting .400 in the match—while Doga Ozalp had 45 assists. Konvicka, Carlo and Sydney Moore all had eight block assists as the Big Red racked up 32 of them in the match.
How It Happened
No other way to put it, the first set was a gut punch if you're a Penn fan.
The Quakers and Big Red were tied eight times to 10-10, at which point Penn got an ace from Johnson and a block from Risch and Deller to go up 13-10. That forced a Cornell timeout. The teams traded sideouts for several points after that, to 18-15, but then Penn reeled off four points in a row—two on each side of the Big Red's second and final timeout—to go in front 22-15. The teams traded the next four points, a Sanger kill giving Penn a 24-17 lead and the freshman serving up set point.
Instead, Cornell ran off nine straight points, two Penn timeouts helpless to stop the onslaught. After Sanger's service error, the Big Red got three service aces from Pomar, two kills from Carlo and one from Konvicka, and back-to-back blocks on Penn attacks. It was a stunning turn of events, the Big Red coming all the way back to win, 26-24.
To its credit, Penn rebounded in the second set. It was especially impressive, given that Cornell had yet another nine-point run early, turning a 7-4 deficit into a 13-7 lead. That advantage crested at seven, 16-9, before a block by Deller and Green set Penn on a five-point run that got the Quakers within two and forced a Cornell timeout. Out of the stoppage, the Big Red seemed to settle back in, going in front by as many as five when Brooke Cooper's kill made it 21-16.
Just when it seemed like Penn was out of it, though, a Sanger kill was the start of a 6-0 run that put the Quakers back in front, 22-21, forcing another Big Red timeout. A Green attack error out of the stoppage tied things at 22-22—Penn challenged the ball was tipped, unsuccessfully—but the junior co-captain came back with a kill on the next play, then a Johnson ace gave the Red and Blue set point. Cornell got one of them back on a Konvicka kill, but a Big Red attack error allowed Penn to breathe as 25-23 winners. Sanger had four kills in the set, hitting .571 on her seven attacks.
Penn and Cornell were only tied twice in the third set, at 1-1 and 2-2, and when the Big Red took a 3-2 lead they never relinquished it. That said, the Quakers were never really out of it, getting as close as one at 15-14 on a Green kill. However, a Penn service error and attack error gave Cornell two points in a three-point run to 18-14, and the Quakers took a timeout. Green then put down kills on back-to-back plays out of the stoppage, getting Penn within two at 18-16, but another three-point Big Red run brought the Red and Blue's second and final timeout. It was to no avail, Cornell answering a Rittenberg kill with three more points to get to set point. Green staved off the first one with her sixth kill in the set, but a Cornell block on the next point ended it at 25-18.
Cornell could smell blood and went up 6-1 early in the fourth. Penn got back within two, 9-7, behind a Green kill and a Sanger ace. It was still a manageable 12-8 after a Johnson kill, but amazingly the Quakers did not "win" a point the rest of the match; Cornell outscored them 13-4 and the four points came on three service errors and an attack error by the Big Red.
Up Next
Penn is back at home again on Saturday, hosting Columbia at 5 p.m.
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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