PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team has a busy week ahead, with three matches across four days. The run starts Wednesday night, when the Quakers are home for the first time this season to host NJIT at The Palestra. The Red and Blue then make the short trip to Newark, Del., for the Delaware Invitational where the Quakers will play the host Blue Hens on Friday night and Saint Peter's on Saturday afternoon.
 
Game 7 – PENN (3-3, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. NJIT (3-7)
Wednesday, Sept. 17 | 7 p.m. | The Palestra
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats

Game 8 – PENN (4-3, 0-0 Ivy League) at DELAWARE (2-5)
Friday, Sept. 19 | 6 p.m. | Newark, Del.
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats

Game 9 – PENN vs. SAINT PETER'S (3-4)
Saturday, Sept. 20 | 1 p.m. | Newark, Del.
Live Stats
 
Ivy League on ESPN
A reminder that the Ivy League is paired with ESPN and you will be able to find all Penn home games, as well as road Ivy matches and select non-conference road games—including Friday's game at Delaware—on ESPN+ this fall with the same high broadcast quality you've come to expect. ESPN+ is a subscription-based service that offers monthly and yearly packages. Click here to subscribe to ESPN+!
 
The Series with NJIT
The Quakers and Highlanders are meeting for the third straight season and the fourth time overall, with Penn holding a 3-0 lead in the series. The Quakers made the trip to Newark last year and emerged with a 3-1 win. Penn also won 3-1 two years ago at the Delaware State tournament, and 3-0 back in 2015 in the first meeting.
 
The Series with Delaware
The Blue Hens hold a 13-9 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to 1988. The last time these teams met was during the 2016 season, Penn winning 3-1 in Newark. That was the end of a series that saw the teams play every season from 2010-16, with Penn going 3-4 during the run.
 
The Series with Saint Peter's
This will be just the third meeting between the Quakers and the Peacocks and the first in this century. Penn won the first meeting way back during the 1991 season, 3-0, but seven years later Saint Peter's exacted revenge with a 3-0 win at The Palestra.
 
California Dreamin'
Penn started the season at UC Irvine's Anteater Classic and the trip served as a homecoming for seven Penn players who hail from the Golden State: seniors Claire Deller (Del Mar) and Jalen Tennyson (Los Angeles); juniors Bella Rittenberg (Fallbrook) and Zada Sanger (Berkeley); sophomores Jenna Garner (Pasadena) and Hailey Hilsabeck (Lafayette); and freshman Taylor Roloff (Alameda).
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn is in its first season under head coach Tyler Hagstrom. He is still just getting to know his players, as he was hired on July 16 after previous head coach Meredith Schamun left the Quakers to become the associate head coach at the University of Illinois.
 
*Hagstrom comes to Penn after a successful five-year run at Bucknell that included the Bison going 21-5 last year and setting a program record with 13 wins in Patriot League play. Despite only coaching five seasons at Bucknell, Hagstrom left as the program's all-time leader in win percentage (59-48, .551).
 
*Penn was picked fifth in the Ivy League's preseason media poll, which featured two voters from each of the schools. The Quakers finished with 58 voting points and finished the poll behind Yale (121 points including 9 first-place votes), Princeton (119/7), Brown (88) and Cornell (79).
 
*Penn made a massive leap last season under Schamun, going 13-10 overall and finishing Ivy League play at 7-7. In both cases, the win totals more than tripled from the previous season when the Quakers finished 4-20 overall and 2-12 in Ivy play.
 
*Even better: almost the entire core returns. Penn returns 98.2 percent of its kills, 94.0 percent of its blocks, 93.0 percent of its digs, and 98.7 percent of its service aces. The Quakers return four players who had more than 100 kills last year and three others who had more than 50; five players who finished with at least 100 digs; and six players who ended the campaign with more than 20 blocks. Penn also returns its top two setters.
 
*In looking at last year's stats, there were 11 women who played in at least 62 of Penn's 88 sets. Only one of those players does not return—Kat Alexander, who graduated after playing in 66 sets. And yet the Quakers still remain relatively young: of the remaining 10, only Abigail Reid (67) and Anna Shohfi (63) are seniors.
 
*Some historic wins last season: Penn won at Princeton on September 27, 3-1, the Quakers' first win over the Tigers since 2015. (In that match, Penn dropped the first set but won the next three.) One week later, the Quakers downed Brown 3-0 for their first win over the Bears since 2019. Finally, the Quakers swept Harvard last season, the first time that's happened since 2016.
 
*Penn went 1-2 last weekend at the Charm City Classic, falling at Coppin State on Friday (3-2) and then splitting matches with Lafayette (a 3-0 win) and Towson (a 3-1 loss) on Saturday. Towson's win over Penn was its ninth in a row this season.
 
*In addition to leading Penn with 64 kills—including a career-high 19 last Saturday against Lafayette—sophomore Jenna Garner already has three kill/dig double-doubles this season (11/18 vs. Fresno State, 14/12 at UC Irvine, 16/17 at Coppin State).
 
*Classmate Adell Murray had a .463 hitting percentage last weekend against Coppin and Towson (21K-2E-41A) and is hitting .357 for the season.
 
*Junior Zada Sanger tied for the team lead with 16 kills last Friday at Coppin—sharing the honors with Garner and sophomore Ellie Siskin—then put down 10 kills without an error at Towson. She is hitting .272 this season.
 
*Senior Feyi Ogunlari presented a threat in Penn's last two matches last weekend, as well, with a career-high 14 kills vs. Lafayette and 11 more vs. Towson.
 
*Freshman Haley Kerstetter hit .500 against Towson, with seven kills and no errors on 14 attacks; defensively, she currently leads the Quakers with eight blocks (4s/4a).
 
*Another freshman, libero Addison Pollock, has had more than 20 digs in each of Penn's last five matches including 25 against Lafayette. She was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Monday.
 
*Sophomore setter Emery Moore has 173 assists so far this season, a 9.61 per-set average, while the senior Shohfi has 57 (8.14 a/s).
 
*Penn started the 2025 season on the right foot, going 2-1 at the Anteater Classic. The Quakers fell to Colorado to start the tournament, 3-0, but rebounded to sweep Fresno State and host UC Irvine.
 
*Garner and Murray were named to the Anteater Classic all-tournament team. Garner had 26 kills, hit .303 on the weekend, and added 34 digs with a pair of kills/digs double-doubles (11/18 vs. Fresno, 14/12 vs. UC Irvine). Murray had 24 kills and hit .281 on the weekend (21K-4E-43A, .395 in the two wins).
 
*Sanger also had a standout weekend offensively in her home state, finishing the three matches with a team-high 30 kills. That included a five-set run across the Fresno State and Irvine matches where Sanger put down 20 kills without an error.
 
*Two freshmen stood out in their first collegiate action. Up front, Kerstetter led Penn with seven blocks (4s/3a) and put down 16 kills, hitting .308. On the back line, libero Pollock led the Quakers with 50 digs.
 
*Still another sophomore, Siskin, was a regular in the rotation last weekend and finished the three matches with 20 kills, 20 digs, and a team-high six service aces.
 
*Three returning players have earned All-Ivy recognition at some point during their career. Sanger and Murray received honorable mention All-Ivy recognition after last season, while Reid earned honorable mention recognition following her freshman season in 2022.
 
*Penn players earned the Ivy League Rookie of the Week honor three times last season; Murray was the Ivy League Rookie of the Week in Week 1 and setter Moore was the recipient on consecutive weeks (September 23 and 30).
 
*Sanger has been Penn's top offensive player since she arrived on campus, leading Penn in kills both last year (260, 3.17 per set) and as a freshman (265). She hit .232 last season, up from .159 her freshman year, and tied for the team lead last year with eight block solos to go with 27 block assists.
 
*Another junior, Bella Rittenberg, had 215 kills last season (2.53 per set) and enters the campaign with 364 in her career. Rittenberg—who hit .296 last year—also had 116 digs and 31 block assists last year, served up 16 aces, and had three double-doubles.
 
*Murray ended her freshman season with 209 kills (2.38 per set), a solid .341 hitting percentage, and a team-leading 54 blocks (6s/48a).
 
*Her classmate, Moore, quickly established herself as the team's setter last year and finished the campaign with 772 assists (8.77 per set). She also led the Quakers with 206 digs and finished with 26 blocks (4s/22a) and 61 kills (.242 hitting percentage).
 
*Of note, Murray and Moore were the only two players last season to play in all 88 sets for the Quakers. After that, Rittenberg played in 85, Sanger played in 82, and Siskin played in 80.
 
*Siskin ended last season with 167 kills (2.09 per set), 172 digs and 23 blocks (3s/20a). She also led the Quakers with 27 service aces and had three kills/digs double-doubles in her freshman campaign.
 
*Two other players hit the 20-ace mark last year, sophomore Jenniya Lane (22) and junior Elsa McDermott (20). Lane also finished the season with 49 blocks (8s/41a), good for second on the team, while McDermott had 83 digs.
 
*Reid was second on the team with 174 digs last season after leading the team in that category her freshman (414) and sophomore (246) seasons and enters this season needing 166 to reach 1,000.
 
*Garner was a back-line stalwart last year with 134 digs, 68 kills and 16 aces.
 
*The team has not yet announced captains for the 2025 season.
 
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