PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team finished the weekend with a sweep of Brown on Saturday at The Palestra, the Quakers' first win over the Bears since a 3-0 victory back in 2019.
Set scores were 25-23, 25-16, 25-16.
Penn improved to 2-2 in Ivy League play—matching its win total for all of last season in conference play—and 8-5 overall. Brown, which was swept on Friday at Princeton, fell to 0-3 in league play and 3-9 overall.
Quaker Notemeal
*Sophomore
Bella Rittenberg had a tremendous night both offensively and defensively, putting down nine kills and hitting .294 while leading all players with a career-high 19 digs. She also had two service aces.
*Freshman
Ellie Siskin also had nine kills on Saturday and hit .304, with just two errors on 23 attacks, and added seven digs.
*Freshman
Jenniya Lane was again strong on the serve, with a match-high five aces, and put down three kills (hitting .600) along with two block assists.
*Sophomore
Zada Sanger had six kills and three block assists in the win.
*Freshman
Jenna Garner had two kills on four attacks (.500), served up two aces, and came up with seven digs.
*Freshman setter
Emery Moore dished out 28 assists, had six digs, and put down two kills.
*Brown got 10 kills and three block assists from Beau Vanderlaan, while Jessie Golden (14) and Victoria Vo (10) led the Bears in digs.
How It Happened
Penn used fast starts in all three sets on Saturday. The first set saw the Quakers go up 3-0 and hold that lead until Brown used a modest two-point run to tie things at 11-11. The teams were then tied at 12-12 and 13-13 before a Bruno 6-2 run turned a 14-13 deficit into a 19-16 lead. Penn called timeout at that point, but the Bears kept things going and held a 22-17 lead late. However, a service error opened the door and the Quakers walked right through with kills by Siskin and Rittenberg around a Brown attack error. That got the score to 22-21, and then after Brown ended the run the Quakers simply scored four more in a row to close out the stunned Bears. Murray had two kills in the final stretch, Siskin served up an ace, and Sanger finished it with her fourth kill of the set. Rittenberg was everywhere, with 11 digs, while Siskin had five kills and hit .333.
Penn led 4-0 to start the second, and the advantage grew to five at 8-3 and then 11-6 before Brown took a timeout. No matter; the Quakers kept pouring it on and the margin was double digits at 17-7. The Bears never got closer than eight after that. This time Rittenberg led the attack, with four kills and a .600 hitting game, while Lane had three aces and two block assists.
Penn scored the first two points of the third set, then responded to Brown's first point (off a Quaker attack error) with five in a row to go up 7-1 which brought a Bruno timeout. The stoppage worked briefly, the Bears scoring three in a row to get within three, but the Red and Blue kept their guests at bay throughout. Brown got within three one more time, at 15-12, but then two Bruno errors were followed by another Lane ace to get the margin back to six and bring Brown's final timeout. Penn closed it out from there, wining seven of the final 10 points. Rittenberg had four more kills and five more digs, and ended it in the most appropriate way when her final dig of the night went over the net and out of the reach of several Brown players.
Up Next
Penn concludes this five-game Ivy League homestand with a pair of matches next weekend, hosting Dartmouth on Friday at 7 p.m. and Harvard on Saturday at 5 p.m. The program will celebrate Pride Night Friday against the Big Green, and Saturday's meeting with the Crimson will be the Quakers' annual Dig Pink match.
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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