BALTIMORE – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team made up a two-set deficit and then took an early lead in the fifth and deciding set Friday night at Coppin State, but the host Eagles responded with a nine-point run and pulled away for the five-set victory.
 
Set scores were 25-22, 25-19, 27-29, 17-25, 15-10.
 
Penn is now 2-2 heading into Saturday's action, while Coppin improved to 4-5.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn had 74 kills compared to Coppin State's 65 and hit .238 as a team on Friday night.
 
*The Quakers also had 87 digs and 12.0 total team blocks (3s/18a).
 
*Three different players put down 16 kills for the Red and Blue on Friday night: junior Zada Sanger and sophomores Jenna Garner and Ellie Siskin.
 
*Garner—whose 16 kills were a career high—also had her third straight double-double, adding 17 digs.
 
*Siskin's 16 kills were a season high, and she added four block assists and two digs.
 
*Sanger's 16 kills were a season best, as well, and she also contributed two block assists and two digs.
 
*Sophomore Adell Murray had 11 kills, hitting .500 on the day (11K-1E-20A), and added four block assists and three digs.
 
*Junior Bella Rittenberg played in four sets on Friday and finished the night with six kills, six digs, and four blocks (1s/3a).
 
*Senior Jalen Tennyson led Penn with two block solos, added two more block assists, and put down five kills in playing four sets.
 
*Sophomore setter Emery Moore had 42 assists, while senior Anna Shohfi saw her first action of the season—she missed last weekend due to injury—and had 18 assists and 14 digs.
 
*Freshman libero Addison Pollock led the Quakers with 24 digs, served up two aces—tying her with Garner for the team lead—and dished out nine assists.
 
*Overall, 14 women played in Friday's match for the Quakers.
 
How It Happened
SET 1: Penn took a lead midway through this set, kills by Murray and Sanger starting a four-point run that turned a 7-6 deficit into a 10-7 lead. A Siskin kill expanded the lead to four, at 15-11, but at that point Coppin State went into overdrive—the Eagles scored six of the next seven points, a Kayden Cupid kill giving them a 17-16 lead and forcing a Penn timeout. Garner put down a kill out of the stoppage to tie things at 17-17, but Coppin State scored the next five points to take control of the set. Penn used a four-point run to get within a point, at 23-22, but a CSU kill and block combo gave them the set win. Sanger and Siskin had four kills each, Siskin hitting .300 (4-1-10), while Garner added three kills and four digs.
 
SET 2: Penn got out quickly, Siskin bookending a 6-2 start with kills. That lead held until the Quakers were up, 16-14, at which point CSU reeled off four straight points to go in front 18-16. The teams traded points until Coppin's lead was 20-19, but an Ayanna Pharaoh kill set the Eagles off on a five-point run that put them up 2-0 in sets. Garner and Sanger had four kills each without an error, while Siskin finished with four kills and just one error on nine attacks (.333).
 
SET 3: The Quakers again shot out of the gate, scoring the first four points and leading 8-2 early. Coppin State crawled its way back into the match and put itself in a position to close things out with five straight points late, turning a 22-18 deficit into a 23-22 lead. Two points later, the Eagles were serving for the match, but a Murray kill staved off elimination. Penn then took leads at 25-24, 26-25, and 27-26 before finally getting the win at 29-27, Garner making it 28-27 with a kill and Murray and Shohfi ending it with a block of a TaKenya Stafford attack. Garner and Sanger had five kills each, Siskin added four, and Pollock had 13 digs in the set while Shohfi added 10.
 
SET 4: This was the most back-and-forth affair of the night, the teams tying 10 times and changing the lead seven times. Penn's lead was just 13-12 when they achieved separation with an 8-1 run. Of particular note, Murray put down four kills in a five-point streak that made the score 21-13.  Coppin never got closer than six as this match went to a decisive fifth set. Murray hit a perfect 1.000 in the set, putting down five kills on five attacks, while Rittenberg had three kills on six attacks without an error (.500).
 
SET 5: Kills by Siskin (2), Tennyson and Garner put Penn in front, 4-0, and another Garner kill made it 5-1 early. Coppin State took over from there, scoring nine points in a row to take control of the set and the match. Penn got as close as three when a Rittenberg block made it 12-9, but Shohfi's attack was blocked by Cupid and Ivanna Luna and then Cherisse Atilano put down a kill to give the Eagles match point. Sanger fended off one of them with a kill, but a Luna kill sealed the deal.
 
Up Next
Penn moves to Towson for a pair of matches tomorrow, a neutral-site affair with Lafayette at 1:30 p.m. followed by a matchup against the Tigers at 6 p.m.
 
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.