BALTIMORE – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team nearly came back on Coppin State Tuesday at the PEC Arena, but the defending MEAC champions scored the final two points of the match and took a 3-2 decision that could not have been much closer.
 
Set scores were 20-25, 25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 16-14 as the fifth set was forced to go past the usual 15 before a two-point margin was established.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn had another solid hitting game, hitting .241 as a team, and finished with 7.0 blocks.
 
*Sophomore Zada Sanger once again led the attack, coming up with 17 kills which led all players and marked her season high. She hit .262 in the match and added three block assists and four digs.
 
*Sophomore Bella Rittenberg had another solid day on attack, as well, with a season-high 14 kills on 22 attacks with just two errors (.545 hitting percentage); she has reached double figures in kills in all four matches so far and has hit .605 over the last two matches (27K-4E-38A).
 
*Freshman Adell Murray, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week, had eight kills and hit .316 on Tuesday, adding two block assists.
 
*Juniors Jalen Tennyson and Feyi Ogunlari joined Sanger with three block assists each.
 
*Senior libero Kat Alexander led Penn with nine digs, while freshman Emery Moore had seven.
 
*Moore and junior Anna Shohfi split setter duties on Tuesday, and both had 21 assists and two service aces.
 
*CSU had five different players reach double digits in kills on Tuesday, led by Takenya Stafford (16) and Gabriela Zuquelo (12). Stafford also had 12 digs, behind teammate Coco Figueroa (14). Sophia Bertotti Metoyer had 10 kills and led the Eagles with five blocks (1s/4a).
 
How It Happened
The start of Tuesday's match was a good indicator of how things might go on Education Day at CSU. The teams were tied eight times up to 13-13, before Penn won three points in a row to take a lead it would not relinquish. The Quakers' lead was never more than four, and the Eagles got within two on two occasions late, but at 22-20 Ogunlari and Kaya Johnson blocked a CSU attack, then Sanger and Rittenberg put down back-to-back kills to close it out. Rittenberg had five kills on six attacks in the set while Sanger had four kills and Ellie Siskin had four digs.
 
CSU responded quickly in the second set, scoring the first six points and ten of the first 11. Penn was playing catch-up the rest of the way but never really got into it, the Eagles cruising to the victory which tied the match at 1-1. Rittenberg and Ogunlari had three kills each for Penn, Ogunlari hitting .500 in the set.
 
Coppin State scored three in a row early in the third set, turning a 5-4 deficit into a 7-5 lead. That was the start of a 9-3 run that blew the advantage out to 13-8 and Penn was unable to made a dent in the margin after that. Both teams hit well in the third set, CSU finishing at a .515 percentage and Penn at .393.
 
Penn wasn't ready to concede, scoring the first three points of the fourth set and holding a four-point lead at 6-2. CSU quickly responded to get level at 7-7, and the teams were then tied at every score from nine to 15. Tennyson and Sanger teamed up to block CSU attacks on consecutive plays at that point, the start of a 3-0 run to push the Quakers in front, 18-15. Coppin again answered, getting back level at 21-21, and the teams traded points to 22-22. Penn then made the plays they needed after that—Murray and Ogunlari blocked Bertotti Metoyer attack for a 23-22 lead, then a Stafford attack for 24-22 advantage. The Eagles got one of those back, but Sanger put down her fourth kill of the set and we were headed to a deciding fifth set. Rittenberg added five kills.
 
Penn scored the first two points in the fifth, but the teams were tied at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5. Penn scored the next three points, only for CSU to answer, and the teams tied again at 8-8, 9-9, 10-10 and 11-11. An Eagles service ace gave them a 12-11 lead, forcing a Penn timeout, and then a Quakers attack error made it 13-11 and forced another Penn timeout. Sanger made it 13-12, and then after CSU got to match point she put down another kill and then served up an ace that tied things at 14-14. Unfortunately, a service error and an attack error by the Red and Blue followed, allowing Coppin State to escape with the set win and game victory.
 
Up Next
Penn will host the Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square Penn Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Le Moyne, Manhattan and Morgan State will join the Quakers at The Palestra.
 
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.