PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team roared back from a first-set loss and four set points in the fourth set to defeat Dartmouth on Friday night at The Palestra, 3-1.
Set scores were 22-25, 25-23, 25-17, 29-27.
Penn improved to 6-7 in Ivy League play and is back above .500 at 12-11 overall. Dartmouth fell to 4-9 in conference action and 7-16 overall.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn hit .299 on the night, put down 70 kills to the Big Green's 52, and had 88 digs vs. Dartmouth's 75.
*Junior
Zada Sanger led the attack with arguably her best match of the season; she put down 21 kills, one shy of her career high, and hit .367 on the night (21K-3E-49A). Sanger added three digs and two block assists.
*Sophomore
Jenna Garner had her fourth straight double-double, putting down 12 kills and coming up with a career-high 22 digs. She had 43 digs in two matches against Dartmouth this season.
*Sophomore
Ellie Siskin had 13 kills on Friday, hitting .290 (13K-4E-31A), and added six digs, a block assist, and a service ace on the final point of the night.
*Penn's middle hitters, freshman
Haley Kerstetter (9K-0E-19A) and sophomore
Adell Murray (9K-1E-16A), combined to hit .486 on the night. Kerstetter also had Penn's only block solo and a block assist, while Murray led the Quakers with three block assists.
*Senior
Abigail Reid went the distance at libero and led Penn with 24 digs along with dishing out eight assists.
*Sophomore setter
Emery Moore dished out 51 assists across the four sets on Friday night, adding five kills (hitting .455) and 17 digs.
*Junior
Elsa McDermott served up three aces, came up with nine digs, and dished out two assists.
How It Happened
SET 1 (Dartmouth 25-22): Penn led by three early, 6-3, but Dartmouth came back with three points in a row and that set the tone for this set. The teams tied eight times from 6-6 to 17-17, at which point the Big Green's Ava Roberts and Zori Brown put down kills which brought about a Penn timeout. However, a Quakers attack error made it a three-point margin at 20-17. Penn got within one on three occasions—a Kerstetter block making the score 20-19, a Sanger kill making it 22-21, and a Siskin kill making it 23-22. However, a Quakers attack error was followed by a block from Dartmouth's Kauany Gutz and Molly Power and that closed out the set. Sanger had six kills, hitting .455, while Kersetter (3-0-4) and Murray (3-1-7) had three kills each and Moore dished out 14 assists.
SET 2 (Penn 25-23): The second set matched the first in ties (8) and lead changes (3). Penn led by as many as five, at 12-7, and it was still 14-10 when Dartmouth began cutting into the lead. The Big Green got back level at 15-15, and then after Garner and Moore put down kills the visitors came back to tie things up at 18-18. The teams traded the next four points—Penn scoring and Dartmouth answering both times—before a trio of Big Green errors (one on serve, two on attack) opened the door for the Quakers to step through. A McDermott ace got the Red and Blue to set point, only for the Big Green to score three points in a row as Penn head coach
Tyler Hagstrom burned both of his timeouts. A Kerstetter kill finally ended things and left the match tied at one set apiece. Penn hit .342 in the set (16-3-38) with Sanger putting down four kills and Garner, Kerstetter, Moore and Siskin finishing with three each and Reid coming up with seven digs.
SET 3 (Penn 25-17): The least dramatic set in a dramatic night, this still featured four ties before Penn gained some separation with a 9-1 run that turned a 5-5 set into a 14-6 lead. Dartmouth got as close as five with a three-point run that made the score 20-15, but a pair of Sanger kills forced a Big Green timeout and on the other side of the stoppage she combined with Murray for a block that made the score 23-15. The teams traded the last four points to end the set. Sanger put down six kills and hit .375 while Murray hit .800 with four kills on five attacks. Moore recorded 12 assists and had six assists, as did Garner and Reid.
SET 4 (Penn 29-27): The two teams put on quite a show in the fourth set, with 13 ties and six lead changes. It looked like the Quakers might put this one away, using a 6-1 run that turned a 12-12 tie into an 18-13 lead. Kerstetter answered a Penn service error with a kill, making in 19-14, but the Big Green came to life after that with the next six points for a 20-19 lead. Penn scored the next two points to go back in front, only for Dartmouth to score twice for a 22-21 lead, and then a
Bella Rittenberg kill tied things at 22-22. Gutz put down a kill for the next point, then shared a block with Power to get the Big Green to set point. However, Sanger put down a kill, and then after a Dartmouth timeout Murray had a kill to tie things at 24-24. Power gave Dartmouth another set point at 25-24, matched by Murray, and a Maddie LaFata kill was matched by Siskin to make the score 26-26. Kerstetter and Siskin then blocked a Brown attack, giving Penn its first match point of the night, but LaFata put down a kill to tie things at 27-27. Kerstetter gave the Quakers their second match point with her final kill of the night, and then Siskin's serve bounced off the net and to the floor to give Penn the climactic final point. Siskin finished the set with six kills, hitting .556, while Garner finished with five kills and eight digs and Sanger put down five kills. Moore dished out 15 assists and Reid had eight more digs.
Up Next
Penn will celebrate its senior class of
Claire Deller,
Feyi Ogunlari,
Abigail Reid,
Anna Shohfi and
Jalen Tennyson prior to Saturday night's game against Harvard at The Palestra. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m., with the senior ceremony taking place prior to that.
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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