PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team takes one final road trip this weekend, traveling to the Empire State to face Columbia on Friday and Cornell on Saturday.
 
MATCH 21 – PENN (3-17, 1-9 Ivy) at COLUMBIA (3-16, 1-9)
Friday, Nov. 3 | 7 p.m. | New York City
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
 
MATCH 22 – PENN at CORNELL (6-13, 4-6)
Saturday, Nov. 4 | 5 p.m. | Ithaca, N.Y.
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
 
Ivy League on ESPN
A reminder that the Ivy League is paired with ESPN and you will be able to find all Penn home games, as well as road Ivy matches and select non-conference road games, on ESPN+ this fall with the same high broadcast quality you've come to expect. ESPN+ is a subscription-based service that offers monthly and yearly packages. Click here to subscribe to ESPN+!
 
The Series with Columbia
This has been a level series in recent years, the teams going an even 5-5 over the last 10 meetings. Penn won the first meeting this season, taking a 3-1 decision at The Palestra on October 14. Last season, the Lions swept the Quakers with a pair of 3-1 victories, while in 2021 it was Penn which swept, the Red and Blue taking a 3-1 decision in New York City and following up with a 3-0 sweep here at The Palestra.
 
The Series with Cornell
The Big Red ended a trend that saw the home team win every meeting each of the last two seasons, taking a 3-1 decision in Philadelphia on October 13. Last year, Penn won 3-2 at The Palestra but Cornell avenged it a month later with a 3-1 win in Ithaca.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn is in its third season under head coach Meredith Schamun, who recently signed a contract extension.
 
*Talk about an imbalanced conference schedule: Penn started the Ivy League season at home with Princeton, then played five straight road matches starting with the iron (Princeton, Yale, Brown, Harvard). As a result, the Quakers are currently in the midst of a stretch that has them playing six of their last eight matches at home.
 
*Penn's non-conference schedule did not necessarily feature any "name" opponents but there was some quality. At the season-opening Molly Howard-Gerwig Memorial hosted by Houston Christian, the Quakers played an HCU team that is currently 5-2 and third the Southland Conference and a UT Rio Grande Valley squad that is 5-1 and tied for second in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). At the Penn Invitational, the Red and Blue hosted a Coppin State team that leads the MEAC at 6-0 after winning 23 matches last year. The final weekend before Ivy play, Penn faced a Delaware State team that is 4-2 and third in the MEAC after winning 24 matches last year, capturing the MEAC title, and playing in the NCAAs. The non-conference schedule also featured a pair of Big East opponents, Villanova and Georgetown.
 
*Freshman Zada Sanger remains second among Ivy players in kills—she enters the weekend with 228—and is second in kills per set (3.40) behind only Cornell's Eliza Konvicka (258 kills, 3.58 k/s); Sanger's 3.40 kills/set is 15th nationally among freshman hitters.
 
*Sophomore Abigail Reid—an honorable mention All-Ivy selection last season as a freshman—has led all players in digs in seven of the 11 matches in which she's started this season; she leads the team and is third among Ivy players with 4.34 digs/set. Freshman Elsa McDermott, who was Penn's libero while Reid was injured early, is second on the team with 158 digs (2.87 d/s).
 
*Another freshman, Bella Rittenberg, led the Penn attack in its 3-1 win over Columbia on October 14. The freshman had 14 kills and hit .478 in the match (14K-3E-23A). She followed that up with a .500 hitting match last Friday against Brown (12K-1E-22A). Overall, Rittenberg is second on the team with 138 kills, third in digs (129), and leads the Quakers with 18 service aces.
 
*Sophomores Jalen Tennyson and Claire Deller lead the Quakers on net defense, Tennyson accumulating 28.0 blocks so far this season (6s/22a) while Deller has 26.0 (10s/16a). Deller is also second on the team with 16 service aces and third with 86 kills, while Tennyson has 70 kills.
 
*Senior Jo Armstrong and sophomore Anna Shohfi continue to share the setter duties. Armstrong has gotten more reps, playing in 48 sets and dishing out 426 assists; her 8.88 assists/set is fourth among Ivy setters. Shohfi, meanwhile, has gone the distance in each of the last three matches—including the Quakers' win over Columbia a few weeks ago—and has 202 assists across her 27 sets so far this season (7.48 a/s).
 
*Junior Ella Green entered the season as the top returning player in terms of kills (200) and kills per set (2.50) while three other returning players had at least 75 kills last season: Risch (81), senior Emerson Flornes (76), and Deller (79).
 
*Senior Emerson Flornes—who was lost for the season with an injury in the home opener against Villanova on September 6—and Deller also led the net defense, Flornes topping the team with 45 blocks (5s/40a) and Deller finishing third with 33 (2s/31a). Green had 24 blocks last year (5s/19a).
 
*Reid led the Quakers with 414 digs. Her 4.50 digs/set were second among Ivy League players, third among freshmen nationally, and 63rd nationally overall.
 
*Reid also led Penn with 21 service aces in 2022. Risch had 14 aces on the season, while Shohfi and senior Julia Bradshaw both finished with 10.
 
*Shohfi took a majority of the reps at setter last season and led Penn with 525 assists; her 8.20 assists/set were fourth among Ivy players. Shohfi also was third in digs (156), and she proved opportunistic on the attack with 53 kills and a .271 hitting percentage.
 
*Armstrong played 24 sets at setter last year and had 245 assists (10.21 a/s).
 
*Flornes and Green are this year's captains.
 
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