PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team closes out the 2023 season this Friday and Saturday, hosting Harvard and Dartmouth at The Palestra.

Prior to Saturday's match with the Big Green, the Quakers will honor outgoing seniors Jo Armstrong, Julia Bradshaw, Tatum DeMann, Emerson Flornes, and Madison Risch.
 
Match 23 – PENN (4-18, 2-10 Ivy) vs. HARVARD (14-7, 7-5)
Friday, Nov. 10 | 7 p.m. | Philadelphia
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Match Program (PDF)
 
Match 24 – PENN vs. DARTMOUTH (8-13, 5-7)
Saturday, Nov. 11 | 5 p.m. | Philadelphia
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Match Program (PDF)
 
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 Harvard
The Crimson defeated the Quakers on October 7 in Cambridge, 3-0 and swept last year's season series, taking a 3-2 decision in Cambridge and a 3-1 victory here in Philadelphia. Prior to that, the teams split in both 2021—Penn's win coming in Cambridge, 3-2—and in 2019 when the Quakers won 3-1 at The Palestra.
 
The Series with Dartmouth
The Big Green have won four in a row in the series including a 3-0 sweep back on October 6 in Hanover. Dartmouth also swept the season series last year with a 3-1 win in Hanover and a 3-0 sweep four weeks later in Philly. Prior to this Dartmouth run, Penn had won four in a row including a season sweep in 2019.
 
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 250—and is second in kills per set (3.47) behind only Cornell's Eliza Konvicka (284 kills, 3.64 k/s); Sanger's 3.47 kills/set is 13th nationally among freshman hitters and 122nd overall.
 
*Sanger had put down a double-digit kill total in four straight matches—including a match-high 18 in last Friday's win at Columbia—before she was held to just four on Saturday at Cornell. Overall, the freshman has reached double digits in kills in 13 of Penn's 22 matches.
 
*Sophomore Abigail Reid—an honorable mention All-Ivy selection last season as a freshman—has led all players in digs in eight of the 13 matches in which she's started this season; she leads the team and is third among Ivy players with 4.28 digs/set. Freshman Elsa McDermott, who was Penn's libero while Reid was injured early, is second on the team with 160 digs (2.81 d/s).
 
*Of note, Reid had hit double digits in digs in 12 straight matches before she had just six last Saturday at Cornell.
 
*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 147 kills, third in digs (137), and leads the Quakers with 19 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 27.0 (10s/17a). Deller is also second on the team with 16 service aces and third with 87 kills, while Tennyson has 76 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 five matches—including both of the Quakers' win over Columbia this season—and has 250 assists across her 33 sets so far this season (7.58 a/s).
 
*Flornes and Green are this year's captains.
 
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.