PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team continues with its five-match Ivy League homestand this weekend, hosting defending champion Yale and Brown on Friday and Saturday.
 
The Bulldogs were preseason favorites in the Ivy League's media poll, while the Bears were picked third. Penn has already gained a split this season with the team picked second in the poll, Princeton, after splitting with the Tigers last weekend as the road team won 3-1 in the home-and-home.
 
Game 12 – PENN (7-4, 1-1) vs. YALE (6-3, 1-0)
Friday, Oct. 4 | 7 p.m. | The Palestra
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Game Program (PDF)
 
Game 13 – PENN vs. BROWN (3-7. 0-1)
Saturday, Oct. 5 | 5 p.m. | The Palestra
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Game Program (PDF)
 
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 Yale
The Bulldogs have dominated this series for more than a decade now, winning the last nine in a row, 15 of the last 16, and 21 of the last 23. Penn's last win came on October 28, 2017, a 3-2 decision at The Palestra, and the other win in this run came exactly 10 years ago, a 3-1 win on October 4, 2014 at The Palestra.
 
The Series with Brown
The Bears have won each of the last six meetings—four of them by sweep—and eight of the last nine matchups dating back to 2018. Penn's last win came in 2019, a 3-0 victory at The Palestra. These teams also split the season series every year from 2013- to 2016, before Penn swept in 2017.
 
Penn in the Ivy League Stats
HITTING PCT: Adell Murray, fourth (.365), Bella Rittenberg, fifth (.360)
KILLS/SET: Zada Sanger, seventh (3.35); Bella Rittenberg, tenth (2.83)
ASSISTS/SET: Emery Moore, sixth (8.17)
ACES/SET: Anna Shohfi, eighth (0.35)
DIGS/SET: Abigail Reid, ninth (2.68)
POINTS/SET: Zada Sanger, sixth (3.83); Bella Rittenberg, ninth (3.23)
 
*As a team, Penn leads the league in hitting percentage (.260) and assists/set (12.00), is second in kills/set (13.02) and points/set (16.48), and is third in aces/set (1.62).
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn is in its fourth season under head coach Meredith Schamun.
 
*At 7-4, Penn has already surpassed its win total for all of last season (4). The Quakers had won three in a row and five of six before falling last Saturday to Princeton, 3-1.
 
*Freshman setter Emery Moore earned her second straight Ivy League Rookie of the Week honor on Monday. Penn players have earned the Rookie honor three times already this season; in addition to Moore winning it twice, Adell Murray was the Ivy League Rookie of the Week in Week 1.

*Moore earned her Ivy rookie honor by posting 86 assists (10.75 a/s), getting 10 kills on 22 attacks without an error (.455), and adding 16 digs and four block assists across Penn's two matches with Princeton.

*Penn's 3-1 win over Princeton on Friday at Dillon Gym was the Quakers' first victory over the Tigers since 2015. In Friday's match, Penn lost the first set but came back to win each of the next three in gaining the victory. 
 
*Still another Quakers freshman, Ellie Siskin, was a difference-maker in Friday's win at Princeton; she put down a match-high 15 kills and added 14 digs for her second double-double in three matches. Siskin hit .297 on Friday and served up four aces.
 
*Yet another freshman, Jenniya Lane, impacted Friday's win with five blocks (3s/2a) and a match-high five service aces.
 
*Sophomore Zada Sanger put down 14 kills on Friday and then tied classmate Bella Rittenberg for team-high honors with 15 more on Saturday. Overall, Sanger had 29 kills and hit .306 (29K-7E-72A) and over the Quakers' last three matches she has 51 kills and a .347 hitting percentage.
 
*Of particular note, Sanger had 22 kills in Penn's four-set win over Rhode Island on September 22, the most by a Penn player since Madison Risch opened the 2022 season with 22 in a four-setter with Niagara.
 
*Rittenberg, meanwhile, leads Penn with eight games recording a double-figure kill total—including three of the last four—and has reached double digits in digs in three of the last four matches. She had double-doubles at NJIT (13K/11D) and vs. URI (12K/11D) and hit .440 last Saturday against Princeton (15K-4E-25A).
 
*Rittenberg and Murray were named to the all-tournament team at both tournaments that Penn played in this season, the Red Flash Classic hosted by Saint Francis (Pa.) in Week 1 and the Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square Penn Invitational at The Palestra in Week 2.
 
*When Murray was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week in Week 1, she was the first Penn player to earn an Ivy weekly honor since Autumn Leak and Sydney Ormiston swept the Player and Rookie awards in Week 1 of the 2021 season.
 
*In part, Murray earned the honor because she put down 20 kills in Penn's 3-2 reverse sweep of Siena. In doing so, she was the first Penn player with 20 kills in a match in almost exactly a year. The freshman also had six blocks in that win (1s/5a).
 
*Junior Abigail Reid has led Penn in digs each of the last two seasons, with 414 as a freshman (when she received honorable mention All-Ivy recognition) and 246 last season (when she missed much of the non-conference season due to injury). Reid was second among Ivy players in digs/set last year in conference play (4.49), and in 2022 she averaged 4.50 digs/set which was second among Ivy Leaguers and third among freshmen nationally.
 
*Juniors Jalen Tennyson and Anna Shohfi and sophomore Lauren Van Wie are this year's captains.
 
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.