PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team was swept by Harvard on Friday night at The Palestra, 3-0.
 
Set scores were 25-20, 25-7, 26-24. The Quakers were up 23-19 in the third set but couldn't close things out as the Crimson scored seven of the final eight points to end the match.
 
Penn fell to 4-19 overall and is 2-11 heading into its regular-season finale tomorrow night. Harvard improved to 14-8 overall and is now 8-5 in Ivy play.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn got 12 kills from freshman Zada Sanger, who hit .267 on the night (12K-3E-30A).
 
*Sophomore Claire Deller had five kills and hit .273 on the night (5K-2E-11A), while senior Madison Risch had four kills and hit .250 (4K-1E-12A).
 
*Deller also had a block solo and block assist Friday night, while sophomore Jalen Tennyson had the Quakers' other block solo.
 
*Sophomore libero Abigail Reid tied for match-high honors with 14 digs and led all players in the match with three service aces. She also had two assists.
 
*Sophomore setter Anna Shohfi had 24 assists, eight digs and a block assist on Friday night.
 
*Harvard was led by Ashley Wang who stuffed the stat sheet with a match-high 14 kills (hitting .722), 11 assists, eight digs, two service aces and a block assist. Ava Rauser had seven kills, Lindsey Zhang had 14 digs, and Ariana White finished with three block solos and four block assists.
 
How It Happened
Penn went up by three in Friday's first set, 11-8, but the visiting Crimson responded with the next five points to jump back in front, 13-11. The Quakers got back level at 15-15, but Harvard went back up 17-15 when Ryleigh Patterson put down a kill and then stuffed a Sanger attack. It was 18-17 when Harvard sandwiched kills by White and Rauser around a Wang ace to go up by four. The teams essentially traded points the rest of the way, the Crimson closing it out 25-20. Sanger had six kills in the set and hit .385 (6K-1E-13A) while Reid had six digs and junior Kat Alexander added five.
 
The second set was all Harvard. The Crimson was up 3-2 but reeled off six straight points, then answered Penn's third point of the set—which came on a Harvard service error—with another five-point run. That made the score 14-3. The teams traded the next eight points to 18-7, and then Harvard put the hammer down by scoring the last seven points in the set for the win.
 
The third set was far more competitive, the teams tying six times and the lead changing hands three times. Harvard was in front, 12-9, when a Crimson service error set Penn off on a 7-1 run that put the Quakers up, 16-13. A Risch kill extended the advantage to 19-14, but a pair of Penn mistakes gave Harvard a lifeline and the Crimson took it, scoring five of the next six points to get within 20-19. Kills by Deller, Sanger and Risch opened things back up to 23-19, but just when it looked like the Red and Blue might get a set the Crimson responded with kills from Wang and Katie Vorhies and a service ace by Nicole Prescott. That forced a Penn timeout, but out of the stoppage Penn committed an attack error and then was blocked on the next point. In all, it was a five-point Harvard run and gave the Crimson set point. Prescott committed a service error to tie it at 24-24, but a Wang kill was followed by another Penn attack error and the Crimson had scored the stunning set win to close out the match. Sanger had four kills on six attacks in the set (.667 hitting percentage) while Risch had four kills and hit .250 (4K-1E-12A) and Reid and Shohfi came up with five digs each.
 
Up Next
Penn closes out the 2023 season tomorrow night, hosting Dartmouth at 5 p.m. Prior to first serve, the Quakers will honor their graduating seniors: Jo Armstrong, Julia Bradshaw, Tatum DeMann, Emerson Flornes, and Madison Risch,
 
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.