PHILADELPHIA – On a night when the program honored graduating seniors
Kat Alexander,
Ella Green and
Kaya Johnson ahead of their final home match, the University of Pennsylvania volleyball team
Penn fell to 11-10 overall; more importantly, the Quakers are now 5-7 in Ivy League play and one game out of an Ivy League Tournament spot after Brown beat Dartmouth tonight, 3-2.; Cornell improved to 7-5 in Ivy play and is 13-8 overall.
Quaker Notemeal
*Playing in her final home match wearing the Red and Blue, senior
Ella Green was Penn's co-leader in kills with 10 and hit .304 on the night.
*Freshman
Adell Murray was the other Quaker with 10 kills and hit .375 on Saturday (10K-1E-24A). Murray also led Penn with five block assists.
*Sophomore
Bella Rittenberg had six kills on Saturday while sophomore
Zada Sanger put down five, and freshman
Emery Moore and
Kaya Johnson—another senior playing her final home match—had four each.
*Moore dished out 34 assists and added eight digs and a block assist.
*Sophomore libero
Elsa McDermott led Penn with 12 digs.
*Cornell got 18 kills from Mackenzie Parsons and 16 from Eliza Konvicka. The duo also both had six block assists while Camryn Carlo had seven kills, a block solo, and five block assists. Setter Doga Ozalp had 43 assists and three block assists.
How It Happened
Johnson got Penn's first point on Senior Night, putting down a kill, and that was the start of an entertaining first set. The Quakers scored three points in a row to turn an 8-7 deficit into a 10-8 lead and never looked back. Another three-point run boosted Penn's lead to seven, at 19-12, and the Red and Blue cruised from there. Johnson and Murray had four kills each in the set while McDermott came up with seven digs.
Cornell scored the first six points in the second set, but Penn got right back into it with seven of the next eight points to tie things at 7-7. It was still 11-10 when the Big Red absolutely took control of things—they scored three in row to 14-10, then answered a Sanger kill with seven straight points to take a double-digit lead at 21-11. In all, it was a 14-3 run as Cornell romped in the second set.
The all-important third set had all the drama you could want. There were nine ties and five lead changes, the last tie coming at 21-21. At that point, Moore put down a cheeky, back-handed kill that started a three-point run and gave the Quakers three set points. Cornell staved off all of them, then added two more for good measure in taking a stunning, 26-24 decision. Rittenberg and Green had four kills each in the set, while Murray put down three.
The fourth set was defined by runs. Penn used four in a row to go up 6-2, only for Cornell to come back with four in a row for 6-6. Penn answered with five straight, going up 11-6, but the Big Red responded with six in a row and took a 12-11 lead. The teams then tied at every score from 12-12 to 16-16, at which point the visiting Big Red made what would be a decisive run—8-0 that got them to match point. A Rittenberg kill—her second of the set—and a
Jenniya Lane ace staved off two of them, but a Parsons kill ended the night.
Up Next
Penn still holds Ivy League Tournament hopes, but will need two wins as the Quakers close out the regular season next weekend at Harvard (Friday at 7 p.m.) and Dartmouth (Saturday at 4 p.m.).
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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