PHILADELPHIA – in its 2023 season finale, the University of Pennsylvania volleyball team was level with visiting Dartmouth after two sets before the Big Green pulled away for wins in the third and fourth to gain a 3-1 victory Saturday night at The Palestra.
Set scores were 25-21, 21-25, 25-15, 25-17.
Penn's season comes to a close at 4-20 including a 2-12 mark in Ivy League play. Dartmouth's season also is over, the Big Green finishing 9-14 overall and 6-8 in Ivy play.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn started all five of its seniors after honoring them prior to the match:
Jo Armstrong,
Julia Bradshaw,
Tatum DeMann,
Emerson Flornes, and
Madison Risch.
*Flornes was making her first appearance since getting injured against Villanova back on September 6, and immediately made an impact by serving up an ace on the first point of the night. She also had a dig and three attacks in limited action.
*Risch led Penn with 12 kills and added four digs, while DeMann finished with eight kills, five digs and an ace.
*The setter, Armstrong, had 36 assists on Saturday night and added 10 digs and a kill on her only attack.
*Sophomore libero
Abigail Reid led all players once again in digs, with 18. She also had two service aces as did Bradshaw.
*Dartmouth got 15 kills from Amelia Gibbs, 12 from Maddie LaFata, and 11 from Ellie Blain. EllaMae Fitzgerald had 15 digs while Piper Stevens added 11. The Big Green totaled 18 block assists, led by four each from Gibbs and Bomi Ogunlari (older sister of Penn sophomore
Feyi Ogunlari).
How It Happened
The first set was a tight affair, the Quakers and Big Green tying 11 times. Neither team led by more than two points until a Reid service ace gave Penn a 16-13 lead on the other side of the media timeout. Dartmouth responded with the next three points, but a DeMann kill and a Bradshaw ace pushed the Quakers in front, 18-16. The Big Green came back with kills from Kauany Gutz and Gibbs, and then the teams traded the next four points to get to 20-20. However, a Stevens ace was the start of a three-point Dartmouth run that made the score 23-20, and after a Risch kill the Big Green closed it out with a kill by Blain and—after a Penn timeout—a block from Ogunlari and Ava Roberts. Risch and DeMann had five kills each in the set to lead the attack.
Dartmouth led the second set, 5-4, when a Deller kill started Penn on a six-point run. Dartmouth got back to within three at 15-12, then 17-15 on an Ogunlari kill. The teams traded the next two points, but the Big Green gave Penn the two points after that with a service error and an attack error. That made the score 20-16 and forced a Big Green timeout. Out of the stoppage, the visitors got kills from Gutz and LaFata and a block from LaFata and Gibbs to make the score 20-19, forcing Penn coach
Meredith Schamun to call a timeout. That settled the Quakers, as Risch and junior
Ella Green sandwiched kills into a pair of Dartmouth attack errors that gave the Red and Blue set point at 24-19. Dartmouth got two of the points back, but a Big Green service error gave Penn the victory. Risch had four kills with just one error in the set while Deller, DeMann and Green had two each.
Dartmouth quickly established itself in the third set, going in front 9-2 amid a Penn timeout. The Quakers scored three of the next four points to get within five, only for the Big Green to score three in a row to go up, 13-5. The lead reached double digits by 18-8, and the closest the Red and Blue got the rest of the way was eight.
Dartmouth then used another fast start in the fourth set, going in front 8-2 and forcing a Penn timeout. The Quakers came out of the break on fire, a
Zada Sanger kill starting a five-point run that made it a one-point score at 8-7. It was still 11-10, but a LaFlata kill started the Big Green on a 5-1 run that made the score 16-11 and forced the Quakers' second and final timeout of the set. The stoppage did not have the same effect this time, Penn committing errors on the next three points as Dartmouth's lead became nine, at 20-11. A Green service error was followed by Deller and Sanger kills, making it 20-14, but Dartmouth made sure that mini-run didn't get extended and was content to trade points the rest of the way in closing out the match. Sanger, Deller and sophomore
Jalen Tennyson all had three kills in the final set, Deller hitting 1.000 in her three attacks and Tennsyon hitting .500 (3K-1E-4A).
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
#FightOnPenn
