ITHACA, N.Y. – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team was swept by Cornell on Saturday night at Newman Arena, 3-0. Set scores were 25-17, 25-16, 25-16.
 
Penn fell to 4-18 overall and 2-10 in Ivy League action, while Cornell—which was celebrating its Senior Night on Saturday—improved to 7-14 overall and 5-7 in Ivy play.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Freshman Zada Sanger and senior Madison Risch led Penn with four kills each.
 
*Freshman Bella Rittenberg had three kills, had the Quakers' only block solo along with a block assist, and picked up two digs.
 
*Sophomore setter Anna Shohfi led Penn in assists (15) and digs (9) on Saturday, while classmate Abigail Reid had six digs and two assists.
 
*Penn's other block assists came from Shohfi, junior Kaya Johnson, and sophomore Claire Deller.
 
*Cornell got 12 kills each from Eliza Konvicka—who entered the weekend leading the league in kills/set—and Kate Stration, Konvicka hitting .611 on the night. Camryn Carlo had a block solo and four block assists while Sydney Moore also had four block assists and Konvicka had three. Megan Bickel led the Big Red with nine digs and four service aces, while Konvicka and Doga Ozalp had three aces each.
 
How It Happened
Cornell got out to a fast start on Saturday night, taking a 4-1 lead and extending it to 8-4. Penn recovered, though, and got kills from three different players and an ace from senior Julia Bradshaw to get back to 10-10. It was 12-12 when Cornell went on a five-point run, forcing a Penn timeout, and after a Rittenberg kill out of the stoppage the Big Red scored four of the next five points. That made the score 21-14, and Cornell was content to trade points the rest of the way en route to the win.
 
The teams tied at every point to 6-6 to start the second set, and the Quakers were still within a point at 8-7 when Cornell took control. The Big Red scored five of the next six points—the only Penn point coming off a CU attack error—and the Quakers were forced to take a timeout down 13-8. No matter, out of the stoppage the hosts reeled off four more points to go up 17-8 and force a second Quakers timeout. Penn showed life out of the second stoppage, winning four straight points to get within 17-12, but Cornell won five of the next six points to go up 22-13 and cruise to the second-set victory.
 
A Rittenberg kill started the third set, but Cornell scored the next six points. The teams traded the next four points, but then the Big Red ripped off four straight points to go in front, 12-3. The margin reached double digits at 16-6, bringing a Penn timeout, and after the Quakers scored the first two points after the stoppage Cornell came back with the next four. That made the score 20-8, and Penn never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
 
Up Next
Penn is home for its final weekend of play next Friday and Saturday, hosting Harvard on Friday night at 7 p.m. and Dartmouth on Saturday 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.