PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team is all Ivy League the rest of the way, starting this weekend when the Quakers meet their travel partner, Princeton, in a pair of matches. The first one takes place Friday night at The Palestra, and then approximately 22 hours later the teams re-convene at Dillon Gym on Old Nassau for the rematch.
 
This is a new format to the rivalry, which typically sees the teams play once the opening weekend of Ivy play and then again about a month later. Instead, this year they will play twice this weekend and then essentially have a bye the weekend of October 20-21.
 
Match 11 – PENN (2-8, 0-0 Ivy) vs. PRINCETON (3-5, 0-0)
Friday, Sept. 22 | 7 p.m. | The Palestra
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Match Program
 
Match 12 – PENN at PRINCETON
Saturday, Sept. 23 | 5 p.m. | Princeton, N.J.
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 Princeton
The Tigers have won 13 in a row in the series, dating back to the 2015 season when the teams split the season series, Penn winning the first 3-1 and Princeton winning the rematch 3-1. In both cases, the road team was the victor. The Quakers' last win over the Tigers at The Palestra came on October 25, 2013, a 3-0 decision.
 
About Princeton
The Tigers are coming off a 3-2 win at Rutgers last Saturday, after dropping a 3-2 decision at Temple on September 13. Princeton's other wins came against Niagara (3-0) and Bucknell (3-0). The Tigers lost four All-Ivy players from a year ago, including three who earned first-team All-Ivy and the Ivy's Defensive Player of the Year in Cameron Dames. They return the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Lucia Scalamandre, who also was first-team All-Ivy last year as a freshman. She leads the Ivy League and is fifth nationally in hitting percentage at a staggering .503 count. Setter Sydney Draper tops the Ancient Eight in assists/set (10.23).
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn is in its third season under head coach Meredith Schamun, who recently signed a contract extension.
 
*Penn's schedule has not necessarily featured any "name" opponents but there's some depth. At the season-opening Molly Howard-Gerwig Memorial hosted by Houston Christian, the Quakers played an HCU team picked to win the Southland Conference and a UT Rio Grande Valley squad picked third in the WAC. At the Penn Invitational, the Red and Blue hosted a Coppin State team that is picked to win the MEAC after winning 23 matches last year and is already 10-2 this season. Last weekend, Penn faced a Delaware State team that won 24 matches last year, won the MEAC, and played in the NCAAs.
 
*Penn hasn't been too far from flipping some of its results in the non-conference season. Of the 25 sets lost by the Quakers this season, three times they went beyond regulation—i.e. the winner needed more than 25 points to win—while five times they scored 22 points and two other times they had 21.
 
*Freshman Zada Sanger enters the weekend second among Ivy League players in kills (121) and kills per set (3.67), just behind Cornell's Eliza Konvicka (124, 3.68); Sanger's 3.67 kills/set leads the league and is tied for 85th nationally (ninth among freshmen).
 
*Sophomore Claire Deller and freshman Bella Rittenberg were named all-tournament at the Delaware State Tournament last weekend. For Deller it marked her second all-tourney nod this season, after she and Sanger were named all-tournament two weeks ago at the Penn Invitational Presented by Sheraton.
 
*Rittenberg also earned a spot on the Ivy League Honor Roll for her play at DSU, including the Quakers' 3-1 win over NJIT when she had 19 kills and hit .667—both season/career bests—and added nine digs, a block solo, and a service ace. She also led all players with four aces in Penn's loss to Georgetown.
 
*Deller is third on the team with 53 kills and is hitting at a .286 clip so far this season, tops among the nine players who have a double-digit kill total so far this season.
 
*That's right, nine different players have reached double figures in the kill column. In fact, six have at least 26 and a seventh, senior Madison Risch, had 11 of her 16 on the season in last Saturday's win over NJIT.
 
*Senior Jo Armstrong and sophomore Anna Shohfi have split duties at the setter spot so far this season; Armstrong has a team-high 214 assists—her 9.30 assists/set is fourth among Ivy League setters—while Shohfi has 94 (7.83 a/s).
 
*Freshman Elsa McDermott leads the team with 112 digs, but don't be surprised to see sophomore Abigail Reid in the libero spot this weekend. She came off the injured list during last weekend's action and was an honorable mention All-Ivy selection at libero a year ago as a freshman.
 
*Deller and sophomore Jalen Tennyson are the only two players with double-digit block totals, Deller with 13 (4s/9a) and Tennyson with 12 (4s/8a). Junior Ella Green has three block solos so far this season.
 
*Rittenberg leads Penn with 11 service aces, followed by McDermott (9), Sanger (7) and Deller (7). Risch is right behind them, with six.
 
*Green entered the 2023 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).
 
*Flornes—who was injured a few weeks ago and will not play this weekend—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 received honorable mention All-Ivy recognition last year after she 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.