PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team opened the Penn Invitational Presented by Sheraton with a convincing, 3-0 win over Lafayette Friday night in a steamy Palestra.
Set scores were 25-18, 25-20, 25-17.
Penn got its first win of the season tonight, while the Leopards fall to 2-4 after losing earlier in the day to Coppin State, 3-0.
Quaker Notemeal
*Freshman
Zada Sanger posted another strong night offensively, recording 15 kills and hitting .314 on the night. She added seven digs and a block assist.
*Sophomore
Feyi Ogunlari had 10 kills, giving her 30 across Penn's last three matches, and hit .333. She also had three digs.
*Sophomore
Claire Deller had six kills, four digs and two service aces.
*Freshman libero
Elsa McDermott once again led all players in digs (15) and service aces (3).
*Another freshman,
Bella Rittenberg, added 13 digs to go with two kills.
*Senior
Jo Armstrong went the distance at setter and had 34 assists to go with seven digs and two service aces.
*Senior
Tatum DeMann had two kills, including the kill that ended Friday night's match and gave Penn the victory.
*Lafayette had six different players with at least three kills on Friday night, led by Gracie Gibson who had five. Carson Grace Toomer had 11 digs to lead the Leopards in that category, and six different players had at least one block assist in the match.
How It Happened
Penn served noticed right from the jump Friday night, scoring the first five points of the match on Deller's serve. Lafayette scored the next three points, but that was as close as the Leopards could get through the first half of the match. It was 13-9 when a pair of Lafayette attack errors brought the teams to the media timeout, and out of the break Deller got a kill and
Lauren Van Wie served up an ace. The four-point run pushed the Quakers out in front by eight, but Lafayette responded with the next six points (a
Meredith Schamun timeout unable to stop things) to get within 17-15. However, the Pards had attack errors on the next two plays, and then
Jalen Tennyson came up with a block (with Sanger) and a kill. That made it 21-15 and forced a Lafayette timeout. No matter. Two Sanger kills got it to 23-15 and Penn cruised from there. Sanger had six kills in the set.
The second set was much more tightly contested. Penn built up a four-point lead on the strength of three straight points as a Sanger kill and a Deller ace sandwiched a Lafayette attack error for 11-7. It was 13-9 when the Leopards hit a spurt and scored five straight points, Gibson and Ally Feczko blocking a Tennyson attack to give the visitors a 14-13 lead. However, Ogunlari had kills on back-to-back points and that spurred Penn on a six-point run for a 19-14 lead that forced a Lafayette timeout. The Quakers then responded to a Pards point with two more of their own, making it an 8-1 run and a 21-15 advantage. The Red and Blue let Lafayette back into it, three attack errors creating three of the points in a four-point streak to get the Pards within 21-19, but out of a Penn timeout Ogunlari came up with another kill and then
Julia Bradshaw served up an ace. That restored order and the Quakers closed it out, 25-20. Ogunlari and Sanger both had five kills in the set, Ogunlari hitting .500 on her eight attacks and Sanger hitting .375 on her eight attacks, while McDermott had six digs and Rittenberg added five.
Penn went back to the fast-start route in the third set, going up 5-1 as Ogunlari kept up momentum with two more kills. Lafayette got back within two twice, at 6-4 and 7-5, but two Sanger kills around an Armstrong ace made it 10-5 and served as the start of an 8-1 run that pushed the Quakers in front 15-7 at the media timeout. The lead stretched to double digits at 20-10, and while Lafayette scored five of the next six points to get within 21-15 it was too little too late. With a 22-17 lead, Penn put it to rest on a kill by Sanger, a service ace from junior
Kat Alexander, and the DeMann kill. Sanger had four kills on seven attacks in the set (.571 hitting percentage) while Ogunlari had four kills on nine attacks (.444).
Quotable
"It's always nice to get a good home win. We had a lot of young faces on the floor, so getting to see things come together and see the team gel a little bit was really refreshing. The energy was really good, so we're excited." –
Meredith Schamun, head coach
Up Next
Penn will be home two more times tomorrow to complete play at the Penn Invitational Presented by Sheraton. The Quakers face 7-1 Coppin State in their first match, at 11 a.m., and then face a rematch with Lafayette at 2:30 p.m.
#FightOnPenn
