HOUSTON – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team gave Arkansas State a great battle in its final match of Houston Christian's Molly Howard-Gerwig Memorial Tournament Saturday afternoon. However, the Red Wolves were able to make the plays when they needed and ended up with a closer-than-it-looks 3-0 sweep of the Quakers.
 
Set scores were 25-22, 25-21, 25-22.
 
Penn finished this opening weekend of the season 0-3, while the Red Wolves won for the second time this weekend and are now 5-1 overall.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*This was the first meeting between Penn and Arkansas State in volleyball.
 
*Freshman Zada Sanger once again led the Quakers with 15 kills, hitting .159 as she had nearly double the number of attacks as any of her teammates. The newcomer had 35 kills on the weekend.
 
*Sanger also had three service aces—all of them coming in a row in the first set—eight digs, and two block assists.
 
*Sophomore Feyi Ogunlari, one of the two Texans making a return to her home state this weekend, played all three sets and finished with nine kills and a .304 hitting percentage on her 23 attacks.
 
*Senior Jo Armstrong once again got the start at setter and ended the day with 29 assists as well as two digs and a block assist.
 
*Freshman libero Elsa McDermott led Penn with 16 digs and also had two service aces, on consecutive points late in the third set.
 
*Senior captain Emerson Flornes also had two service aces as well as Penn's only block solo on Saturday and a block assist.
 
*Freshman Bella Rittenberg had eight digs along with Sanger, while senior Julia Bradshaw—who had a true homecoming this weekend, being from Houston—had seven digs.
 
*Arkansas State hit .268 in Saturday's match (.310 in the first set) and was led by Bailey Helzer's 16 kills. Erin Madigan had 34 assists in the match, while Sarah Martinez had 16 digs and Kaitlin Whitlock added 12. At the net, Brianna Hollingshed had four block assists.
 
How It Happened
Arkansas State took control of the first set early, the Red Wolves using an 9-1 run that turned a 4-3 Penn lead into a 12-5 ASU advantage. Kills by Armstrong, Ogunlari and Claire Deller was part of a 4-0 run that got the Quakers back within three, at 12-9, but ASU responded with their own three-point stretch and extended the lead to as much as seven at 19-12. A Sanger kill was followed by three straight Sanger service aces, and Penn was back within three at 19-16. The teams essentially traded points the rest of the way, neither of them able to win more than two in a row en route to ASU winning the set, 25-22. Sanger had six kills in the set, hitting .357, while Ogunlari had four on seven attacks (.429 hitting percentage).
 
The second set had plenty of drama, the teams tying nine teams (the first at 6-6, the last at 19-19). At that point, the Red Wolves went into overdrive: kills by Helzer and Madigan forced a Penn timeout, then another Helzer kill and a service ace forced the Quakers' second and final timeout. Ogunlari had two kills out of the second break, but it wasn't enough as ASU won, 25-21. Sanger had another strong set offensively, with eight kills and a .429 hitting percentage, while Ogunlari had three kills without an error on her seven attacks (.429).
 
Arkansas State jumped out quickly in the third set, using a seven-point run to turn a 3-3 tie into a 10-3 lead. Penn wasted little time whittling away at that margin, though, and drew back level at 13-13 when a pair of Tatum DeMann kills were followed by two McDermott aces. The teams then tied at 14-14, 15-15 and 16-16 before a pair of Penn attack errors spurred a four-point ASU run. The Quakers got within two, at 20-18, but three service errors were their undoing and allowed the Red Wolves to keep them at bay, 25-22.
 
Up Next
Penn is home for its next four matches, starting Wednesday when the Quakers host Villanova at 7 p.m. The Red and Blue then hosts the Penn Invitational Presented by Sheraton on Friday and Saturday as Coppin State, Duquesne and Lafayette come to University City.