PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team is home for four matches this week, starting Wednesday night when the Quakers host regional rival Villanova at The Palestra. The Quakers and Wildcats are scheduled to serve it up at 7 p.m. Admission to all volleyball home matches is free.
 
MATCH 4 – PENN vs. VILLANOVA
Wednesday, Sept. 6 | 7 p.m. | The Palestra
Watch 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 Villanova
The Wildcats have dominated the series recently, winning the last five meetings including a 3-1 decision two years ago in a neutral-site match at Temple. The last time Villanova came to The Palestra was Sept. 18, 2015 when the 'Cats won 3-0. Penn's last win in the series came on Sept. 1, 2012, a 3-0 victory at The Palestra.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn enters its third season under head coach Meredith Schamun, who came to Penn after serving as an assistant coach at Villanova.
 
*Penn went 0-3 at the Molly Howard-Gerwig Memorial Tournament, hosted over the weekend by Houston Christian University. The Quakers fell 3-0 to the hosts—picked to win the Southland Conference—as well as UTRGV (which is picked third in the WAC). On Saturday, Penn was right there but lost 3-0 to Arkansas State in a match that was closer than the score would indicate (set scores were 25-22, 25-21, 25-22).
 
*Penn's attack was led by freshman Zada Sanger, who had more than double any of her teammates in attacks (99) and nearly tripled the team in kills (35) over the weekend. She had 11 kills in her collegiate debut against HCU and 15 kills the next day against Arkansas State.
 
*Another freshman, Bella Rittenberg, ended the weekend with 12 kills while sophomore Feyi Ogunlari—who made a return to her home state with the trip to HCU—had nine kills and hit .304 in Saturday's loss to the Red Wolves.
 
*Senior Jo Armstrong played two matches at setter and finished the weekend with 49 assists (8.17 a/s), while Anna Shohfi played the first match at the position and had 20 assists (6.67 a/s).
 
*A third freshman, Elsa McDermott, stepped into the libero role over the weekend and led Penn with 36 digs (4.00 d/s). Rittenberg had 23 digs on the weekend while Sanger added 20 and senior Julia Bradshaw (who returned to her hometown of Houston with this past weekend's trip) had 14.
 
*Senior Emerson Flornes and sophomore Claire Deller led Penn with five blocks each over the weekend, followed by sophomore Jalen Tennyson who had four.
 
*The fourth freshman on this year's roster, Lauren Van Wie, played in five of the nine sets over the weekend.
 
*Junior Ella Green entered the 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: senior Madison Risch (81), Flornes (76) and Deller (79).
 
*Flornes 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).
 
*Sophomore Abigail Reid—who missed last weekend's matches due to injury—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 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 were recently selected to be this year's captains.