PHILADEPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team got off to a good start on Friday night, taking the first set from Yale at The Palestra. The defending Ivy League champion Bulldogs took it from there, though, rolling to wins in the next three sets for a 3-1 victory.
Set scores were 23-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-15.
Penn fell to 7-5 overall and 1-2 in Ivy play, while Yale improved to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in conference action..
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn got 14 kills from sophomore
Zada Sanger, who hit .231 on the night and also had two block assists.
*Freshman
Adell Murray put down 11 kills, hitting .233.
*Sophomore
Bella Rittenberg finished the night with nine kills (.240), five digs and two block assists.
*Freshman setter
Emery Moore had another strong performance with 41 assists, six kills (.500 hitting night) and nine digs.
*Freshman
Jenna Garner led the defensive effort with 16 digs, followed by junior libero
Abigail Reid (12) and freshman
Ellie Siskin (10) who also had two service aces.
*Freshman
Jenniya Lane had three block assists to lead the Quakers' defensive effort at the net and added three kills.
*Betsy Goodenow led Yale on Friday night with 16 kills, 10 digs and four block assists. Payton Bryan added 15 kills while Gigi Batt had 12 and reigning Ivy League Player of the Week Laurece Abraham put down nine. Barr also had six block assists. Last year's Ivy League Player of the Year, setter Carly Diehl, had 54 assists and nine digs while libero Arya Jue led all players with 17 digs.
How It Happened
The first set was a thriller, as the teams tied 11 times—the first coming at 8-8—and changing leads eight times. Neither team held more than a two-point lead until the Quakers reeled off three in a row to go in front 17-14 when Rittenberg and Lane blocked a Bryan attack and then Rittenberg put down a kill on the next play. That forced a Yale timeout, but the lead got to four (19-15) before the Bulldogs answered with a four-point run to tie things up at 19-19. The teams then traded points all the way to 23-23 before a Siskin kill, a Moore kill, and—after a Yale timeout—a Siskin ace gave Penn the first set, 25-23. Moore had four kills on five attacks (.800) while Sanger had five kills on 10 attacks (.500).
The second set was another taut affair, the teams tying seven times up to 10-10. At that point the Bulldogs ripped off four points in a row, forcing a Penn timeout. Yale would not trail again. The Quakers got as close as 22-20 as Siskin, Murray and Sanger put down kills as part of a 5-0 Penn run. However, the Bulldogs steadied themselves and scored three of the last four points for the win. Murray had six kills and hit .417 in the set.
The defending champions established themselves in the third and fourth sets.
It was 5-0 Yale to start the third, before Penn got back within two at 7-5. It was still 11-9 when Yale scored three in a row to go up five and force a Red and Blue timeout. The kill shot was a four-point run that turned a 16-11 set into a nine-point margin and the Bulldogs cruised from there. Garner, Sanger and Rittenberg had two kills each.
The fourth set started well, the teams tying three times to 4-4 and separated by just a point at 9-8. Yale turned it on after that, though, winning eight of the next nine points as Penn had no answers. Sanger had four kills in the set on 10 attacks (.300) while Garner had seven digs and junior
Anna Shohfi added five on the back line.
Up Next
Penn is back in action at The Palestra tomorrow night, hosting Brown at 5 p.m. The Bears come to Philadelphia with an 0-2 record in Ivy League play with the losses coming last weekend to Yale and Friday night at Princeton (3-0).
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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