HANOVER, N.H. – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team took Dartmouth to the brink in the first two sets on Friday night, but the third set was all Big Green as the hosts rolled to a 3-0 victory at Leede Arena.
 
Set scores were 25-23, 25-23, 25-12.
 
Penn fell to 2-13 and remains winless in Ivy League play at 0-5. Dartmouth improved to 6-7 overall and is now 3-1 in Ivy play.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Freshman Bella Rittenberg led all players with 11 kills on Friday night and tied for match-high honors with two service aces (they came back-to-back in the first set).
 
*Sophomore Feyi Ogunlari—who played against her older sister, Bomi, on Friday night—had eight kills, most in a match since she had 11 and 10, respectively, against Villanova and Lafayette on September 6 and 8.
 
*Sophomore Claire Deller and freshman Zada Sanger had five kills each.
 
*Senior Jo Armstrong went most of the way at setter and finished the day with 24 kills.
 
*Sophomore libero Abigail Reid led all players with 14 digs on Friday night, while Kat Alexander had nine and Rittenberg and Armstrong had eight each.
 
*Sophomore Jalen Tennyson had three block assists, Rittenberg had two, and Ogunlari had one.
 
*No one had double figures in kills for Dartmouth, but six different players had at least four led by Ellie Blain's eight. Makenzie Arent had 20 assists and 13 digs, and five different players had at least three block assists led by Amelia Gibbs who had four.
 
How It Happened
The first two sets on Friday night were thrillers.
 
Penn took control of the first set early on, winning five straight points to turn a 4-4 tie into a 9-4 lead. Dartmouth quickly recovered, though, scoring four in a row and six of the next seven points to level things back up at 10-10. The teams tied five more times to 17-17, at which point a Kauany Gutz kill for Dartmouth was followed by two Penn attack errors. That gave the Big Green a 20-17 lead, forcing a Penn timeout. A pair of Rittenberg kills got the Quakers back within one, and then she had another kill to match a Big Green point and Tennyson put down a kill after another Dartmouth point to set the score at 22-21. The hosts got kills from Arent and Blain around a Penn timeout to get to set point, and while Rittenberg and Claire Deller staved off two of them the Red and Blue could not get level as a Blain kill gave Dartmouth the first-set win. Rittenberg had six kills in the set, hitting .294.
 
Penn only led twice in the second set, at 1-0 and 2-1, but the Quakers hung around in a set that featured eight ties. Dartmouth's lead was 10-6 early, but Penn got back level with a sideout and three points on Reid's serve. The Big Green used a three-point spurt after the teams traded points to 11-11, and expanded it slightly to 17-13. It was still 21-17 when Penn got a sideout, then called on Ogunlari back-to-back as part of a four-point run that tied things at 21-21. However, that was followed by an attack error and a Dartmouth ace, giving the hosts the opening they needed. Penn got within one twice, at 23-22 and 24-23, but a Blain kill once again ended it. Ogunlari had four kills while Rittenberg had three, and Reid had nine digs in the set.
 
The third set looked like it would follow form, the teams tying five times with the last coming at 8-8 after Ella Green put down consecutive kills on her first two attacks of the night. Dartmouth won the next two points, but a Big Green service error made it 10-9 with Armstrong on serve. At that point, things completely unraveled as the hosts won eight points in a row, 12 of the next 13, and 14 of the next 16. That made the score 24-11, and a Deller kill was Penn's last gasp before Bomi Ogunlari put down the match winner. The younger, Red and Blue Ogunlari had three kills in the set, hitting .600.
 
Up Next
Penn closes out this five-match Ivy League road trip with Harvard tomorrow night in Cambridge. First serve between the Quakers and Crimson is scheduled for 5 p.m.
 
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