HANOVER, N.H. – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team nearly completed a comeback on the road Saturday night, winning the fourth set over Dartmouth and taking a lead well into the decisive fifth set. However, the Big Green ripped off four straight points to flip the script and then held on to win the set and take the match, 3-2.
Set scores were 21-25, 27-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-13.
Penn splits the weekend series in Northern New England and is now 7-8 overall and 1-4 in Ivy League play. Dartmouth improves to 5-10 overall and 2-3 in Ivy play.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn struggled offensively through much of Saturday's contest, hitting just .177 on the night.
*Junior
Zada Sanger once again led the Quakers in kills, with 17, and added three block assists and two digs.
*Sophomore
Ellie Siskin hit .289 on the night and put down 14 kills, adding three block assists, four digs and two service aces.
*Freshman
Haley Kerstetter had 10 kills and hit .368 for the match. She also served up a team-high three aces and recorded three block assists.
*Sophomore
Adell Murray had eight kills with just one error, hitting .280, and also had three block assists.
*Freshman libero
Addison Pollock led all players in the match with 28 digs, while sophomore
Jenna Garner had 21 to go with five kills.
*Sophomore setter
Emery Moore filled the stat sheet with 32 assists, 14 digs, the Quakers' only block solo and a block assist as well as a kill.
*Senior setter
Anna Shohfi added 13 assists, three digs, and two kills on two attacks (1.000).
How It Happened
SET 1 (Penn 25-21): The first set was tied 9-9 when Penn scored four of the next five points. That gave the Quakers a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Another three-point run made the score 22-17 late and gave the Red and Blue the separation they needed. Siskin had the final kill. Kerstetter had five kills and hit .500 for the match, while Murray was a perfect 1.000 on her four kills and Garner had four kills and hit .300.
SET 2 (Dartmouth 27-25): Penn led by four early, at 9-5, but Dartmouth roared back with seven straight points to reverse things. Amazingly, the Quakers tied it five times after that but only held a lead once, at 15-14. It was 21-21 when Dartmouth scored two straight points, and the Big Green had set point at 24-22 but had two attack errors to allow the Red and Blue to extend the set. Killer sequence after that, though—a Penn service error gave its hosts another set point, and then after Murray extended it to 25-25 the Quakers had another service error and then allowed Dartmouth a service ace which gave the Big Green the win. Sanger carried Penn in the set offensively, with seven kills while hitting .400.
SET 3 (Dartmouth 25-21): The Big Green was up 9-8 and then ran off five of the next six points to get the separation it needed. Kills by
Bella Rittenberg and Siskin bookended a block by Siskin and Murray, a three-point run that halved Dartmouth's lead to 21-18, but the Quakers could only trade the next seven points with their hosts and allowed them to go up 2-1 in sets.
SET 4 (Penn 25-19): The comeback was on as the Quakers held the advantage almost wire-to-wire to force a fifth. Murray and Siskin were the impetus for a modest three-point run that made the score 12-8, and a 5-1 run shortly after that turned a 15-13 lead into a 20-14 advantage. Penn was never really threatened the rest of the way. Siskin finished the set with seven kills, hitting .462, while Sanger put down five kills.
SET 5 (Dartmouth 15-13): Penn got out quickly in the decisive fifth, scoring the first two points and leading 7-4. The Big Green scored the next two points, but an attack error made the Quakers lead 8-6 as the teams switched sides. Murray and Sanger bookended a pair of Dartmouth points after the switch, getting the score to 10-8, and then another Sanger kill answered a Big Green point to put Penn in front 11-9. At that point, Dartmouth blocked Sanger twice—tying things up and forcing a Penn timeout—then added two more points on either side of the Quakers' second and final timeout. A Kerstetter kill ended the run and got the Red and Blue back within one, but Dartmouth scored the next point to get to match point. Penn fended off the first due to a Big Green attack error, but a Garner attack was blocked back by the hosts and that settled matters at Leede Arena.
Up Next
Penn is back at home again next Friday and Saturday, celebrating Alumni Weekend by hosting Columbia on Friday night at 7 p.m. and Cornell on Saturday at 5 p.m. at The Palestra.
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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