PHILADELPHIA – Fresh off a dramatic, five-set match with city rival Villanova on Wednesday night, the University of Pennsylvania volleyball team remains home this Friday and Saturday to host the Penn Invitational Presented by Sheraton.
 
Duquesne was forced to withdraw from this event, so the schedule has changed slightly in order to accommodate a three-team format with the Quakers, Coppin State, and Lafayette. Two matches will be played on each day and Penn and Lafayette will play each other twice, once on Friday night and again on Saturday afternoon.
 
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday
  Coppin State vs. Lafayette | 3:30 p.m. | Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
  Penn vs. Lafayette | 7 p.m. | Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
Saturday
  Penn vs. Coppin State | 11 a.m. | Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
  Penn vs. Lafayette | 2:30 p.m. | Watch on ESPN+ ($) | 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 Coppin State
The Eagles were at this tournament two years ago, and the first meeting between Penn and CSU ended in a 3-1 Quakers victory. Coppin State is 6-1 on the young season with wins in its last five matches. That includes a 3-0 win at Loyola (Md.) on Tuesday and a sweep of UNC Greensboro (3-1), Morehead State (3-0) and host Marshall (3-2) at the Marshall Invitational last weekend.
 
The Series with Lafayette
The Quakers own a 14-1 lead in the series with the Leopards, though the teams have met just four times this century despite their relative proximity. The last matchup took place on September 6, 2019 and ended as a 3-1 Penn win, and the last meeting here at The Palestra came in this same event in 2016 and was another 3-1 Quakers victory. Lafayette enters the weekend 2-2 after a 3-0 win over Saint Peter's on Wednesday night; the Leopards were at Bryant last weekend, losing to the hosts and Northeastern but defeating Siena.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn is in its third season under head coach Meredith Schamun.
 
*Penn pushed Villanova to five sets on Wednesday night in a hot, humid Palestra. The Quakers won the first set, fell behind 2-1, but rallied to win the fourth before falling 15-9 in the fifth.
 
*Freshman Zada Sanger once again led Penn with 48 attacks, finishing the night with a match-high 17 kills which gives her 32 across the Quakers' last two matches. She also had five digs and two service aces on Wednesday night.
 
*Sophomore Feyi Ogunlari had 11 kills, giving her 20 over the last two matches, and also finished the night with three digs.
 
*Sophomore Claire Deller proved opportunistic on attack, gaining nine kills on 19 attacks and finishing the night with a .368 hitting percentage. She also had four digs and a block assist.
 
*Freshman Bella Rittenberg had seven kills on Wednesday night and led the Quakers with four service aces, three of them coming in the opening set.
 
*Senior Jo Armstrong went the distance at setter for the third straight match, dishing out 43 assists and adding 10 digs, three kills (.429 hitting percentage), and a block assist.
 
*Freshman Elsa McDermott continues to lead the defense from the libero position; she had 19 digs—one shy of match-high honors—to go with a service ace and two assists.
 
*Penn went 0-3 at the Molly Howard-Gerwig Memorial Tournament, hosted last 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 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.
 
*Rittenberg ended the weekend with 12 kills while 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.
 
*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).
 
*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 had a true homecoming, being a Houston native) had 14.
 
*Senior Emerson Flornes and Deller led Penn with five blocks each over the weekend, followed by sophomore Jalen Tennyson who had four.
 
*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.