PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team is ready to serve it up for the 2024 season. The first tests will come this Friday and Saturday on the other side of the Commonwealth, as the Quakers travel across I-76 for the Red Flash Classic which will be hosted by Saint Francis (Pa.) in Loretto, Pa. Penn will open tournament play with the host Red Flash on Friday night, and then on Saturday the Red and Blue will go back-to-back against a pair of New York schools in Siena and Mercyhurst.
 
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Match 1 | Saint Francis | Friday | 7 p.m. | Watch on NECFrontRow | Live Stats
Match 2 | Siena | Saturday | 12:30 p.m. | Live Stats
Match 3 | Mercyhurst | Saturday | 3 p.m. | Live Stats
 
Penn vs. The Field
*Penn will be meeting SFU for the seventh time overall and the first time since 2018; however, this is the Quakers' first trip to Loretto. The Red and Blue lead the overall series, 4-2, but Saint Francis won the most recent meeting, a 3-1 decision in the 2018 Valley Forge Sports Invitational at The Palestra.
 
*Penn and Siena will meet for the third time in history, the other meetings coming in 1999 (a 3-2 Quakers win at the Colgate Invitational) and 2017 (a 3-0 Penn victory as part of the Valley Forge Sports Invitational at The Palestra).
 
*Penn and Mercyhurst will be meeting for the first time in program history on Saturday.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn is in its fourth season under head coach Meredith Schamun.
 
*The top six attackers from last season are back in uniform this year, led by sophomore Zada Sanger (265 kills) who finished second among Ivy League players in overall kills per set last year (3.49). She is a Penn volleyball legacy—her mother, the former Nida Germanas, was a middle for the Quakers who lettered in the early 1990s.
 
*Another sophomore, Bella Rittenberg, was second on the team in kills (149), third in digs (138), and led the Quakers in service aces (19).
 
*Juniors Claire Deller and Jalen Tennyson were third and fourth in kills last year, with 98 and 79 respectively, and led the Quakers in blocks (Deller with 30.0, Tennyson with 29.0). Deller also was second on the team with 17 service aces.
 
*Junior Anna Shohfi is the incumbent at setter, having played there regularly since she arrived on campus. She had 274 assists last season and was a threat as an attack, with 27 kills and a .284 percentage.
 
*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.
 
*Tennyson, Shohfi, and sophomore Lauren Van Wie will serve as this year's captains.
 
*Six freshmen have joined the roster this season: three outside hitters in Jenna Garner, Hailey Hilsabeck and Ellie Siskin; a right side in Jenniya Lane; Adell Murray in the middle; and Emery Moore at setter.
 
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.