HOUSTON – Playing its second match on opening day of the 2023 season, the University of Pennsylvania volleyball team faced another challenging opponent in the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. UTRGV is picked to finish third in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), and the Vaqueros were dominant throughout Friday afternoon's contest in taking a 3-0 victory.
 
Set scores were 25-13, 25-16, 25-18.
 
Penn is 0-2 after the first day at the Molly Howard-Gerwig Memorial Tournament, being hosted by Houston Christian University. The Quakers will conclude the tournament tomorrow with Arkansas State.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn got nine more kills from Zada Sanger in the afternoon match, giving the freshman 20 on her first day as a collegian. She also had three digs and two block assists.
 
*Another freshman, Bella Rittenberg, had six kills against the Vaqueros and led the Quakers with eight digs.
 
*Senior Jo Armstrong stepped in at the setter spot for the afternoon match and had 20 assists as well as three kills (on four attacks), four digs and a block assist.
 
*Sophomore Claire Deller led Penn with three block assists, while senior Madison Risch had two service aces to top the team in that category.
 
*Penn once again did not dress sophomore Abigail Reid or junior Kat Alexander, the team's two top defensive specialists from last season. Reid was an honorable mention All-Ivy pick in 2022 as a freshman.
 
*UTRGV—which won 27 games last year and has played in the Women's National Invitational Tournament each of the last two years, making the quarterfinal round last fall—was relentless offensively, hitting .400 in the first set and a staggering .565 in the second en route to a .412 performance overall. Six different players had at least four kills, led by Perris Key who had eight.
 
How It Happened
The teams were tied at 1-1 and 2-2 before UTRGV took over. The Vaqueros scored seven straight points to go in front 8-2 and extended the run to 11-1 to take a 12-3 lead and force Penn's first timeout. The teams essentially traded several points after that, and at 21-12 UTRGV turned on the burners and won four of the last five points for the set victory. Sanger had four of her kills in the first set.
 
The Texans used another fast start in the second set, taking another 8-2 lead and forcing the Quakers' first timeout of the set. The stoppage did little to stop the bleeding, as the Red and Blue won the first point back on the court but UTRGV won the next four after that for a 12-3 lead. The advantage hit double digits at 15-5 and topped out at 13 on two occasions—20-7 and 22-9—before Penn finally got the margin into single digits at 22-13. Still, Penn's 7-2 run wasn't nearly enough as Rio Grande Valley won the final point for the 25-16 win. Rittenberg had three kills on four attacks in the set and also came up with three digs.
 
UTRGV came back to Earth offensively in the third set, hitting a more pedestrian (but still impressive) .280. Nevertheless, the Vaqueros led 4-0 and never looked back in putting the match away. The largest lead in the set was eight, at 12-4 and 15-7, before Penn used a three-point run to give a flicker of hope. UTRGV scored the next two points, however, and got the lead back up to eight at 23-15 before closing it out. Sanger had another four-kill set, while Rittenberg went for another three kills and three digs.
 
Up Next
Penn concludes tournament play tomorrow against Arkansas State at 12:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. EDT).