PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team ended non-conference play Tuesday night with a thrilling five-set match that went nearly three hours. Ultimately, though, it was their neighbors from North Broad, Temple, who escaped The Palestra with the 3-2 victory, coming back in the fifth set to win 15-13.
Set scores were 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 23-25, 15-13.
Penn finishes the non-conference portion of its season at 6-4, while the Owls improved to 10-4.
Quaker Notemeal
*This match was about as evenly played as the score indicates. Temple won 81 points to Penn's 79 across the five sets, put down 64 kills to the Quakers' 62, dished off 59 assists to Penn's 58, had 96 digs while Penn had 92, and finished with 9.0 blocks while the Quakers had 8.0. The Red and Blue served up nine aces to Temple's eight.
*Even the hitting percentages were nearly level on Tuesday night: Penn hit .205 on 195 attacks while Temple hit .196 on 189.
*Junior
Zada Sanger once again led Penn offensively, with 18 kills and a .234 hitting percentage. She also topped the Quakers with five block assists and added two digs.
*Sophomore
Jenna Garner put down 13 kills and came up with 14 digs for her fourth double-double this season.
*Another sophomore,
Ellie Siskin, finished with 11 kills and seven digs.
*In addition to Garner, three other Penn players finished with a double-digit number of digs: freshman
Addison Pollock led all players with 25—tying her season/career high—while junior
Elsa McDermott had 17 and
Anna Shohfi recorded 10.
*Shohfi also had 20 assists as she once again shared setter duties with sophomore
Emery Moore (26 assists, three kills, six digs).
*Senior
Jalen Tennyson finished the night with three kills (hitting .500) and four block assists.
*Freshman
Haley Kerstetter had the Quakers' only block solo and added two block assists at the net.
How It Happened
SET 1 (Penn 25-22): The Quakers caught the Owls off guard early,
Bella Rittenberg putting down a kill that broke a 4-4 tie and started a 6-2 Penn run. Shortly after that, another five-point run gave the Red and Blue a 16-8 lead, Tennyson going with a kill and a block (with Sanger) on back-to-back points as part of the streak. The margin stretched to nine, at 18-9, at which point Temple stormed back; the Owls scored six straight points to get within three, then forced a Penn timeout when a Leia Harper kill made It 23-21. However, Siskin and
Adell Murray dropped the hammer on back-to-back plays and that quelled the comeback. Garner had four kills and four digs in the set, while Rittenberg put down three kills and hit .429.
SET 2 (Temple 25-20): This was a set of runs. At 5-5, Temple scored five in a row, only for Penn to respond in kind to make it 10-10. It was 11-11 when the Owls took a lead they wouldn't relinquish, scoring four straight and seven of the next nine. That five-point margin held the rest of the way as the teams essentially traded points to the finish. Siskin and Garner both had three kills in the set, Siskin hitting .600 (3-0-5), while Pollock had 10 digs and Garner added five.
SET 3 (Temple 25-21): It was 8-8 when Temple scored three in a row and never looked back. The Owls' lead was as big as five, at 19-14, but Siskin and Sanger put down kills to get Penn back within three. However, Temple answered with the next three points—sandwiching them around a Quakers timeout—and that gave them plenty of room to close things out. Sanger had five kills in the set.
SET 4 (Penn 25-23): An absolutely absurd set that saw 10 ties, five lead changes, several challenges and the use of all five possible timeouts. The score was 19-19 when Penn made the plays that ultimately decided this set, Siskin and Garner bookending a Temple attack error with kills and then Kerstetter serving up an ace. That put the Quakers in front, 23-19, but this one was hardly over. Temple scored the next three points, forcing a Penn timeout, and then the teams traded the next two points to get to 24-23. That was when Garner put this one to bed with a cheeky little kill just over the Owls' net defense. Sanger was a beast, with seven kills and a .583 hitting percentage. Garner put down five kills while Siskin and Murray had three each.
SET 5 (Temple 15-13): Both teams rode their horses in the final set: Penn went to Sanger for 11 of its 20 attacks, while Temple went to Harper (24 kills on the night) for nine of its 21. The Owls led just once before the teams switched sides, at 6-5, only to see Penn to score four straight with Garner leading the charge (one kill and two aces in the run). It was still 11-8 Quakers when the tables turned, Temple reeling off six straight points to get to match point. Penn fended off two of them, Kerstetter and Moore blocking a Harper attack and then Kerstetter meeting Alyssa Finister at the net for another block solo. However, out of a Temple timeout Harper found the opening she needed and put down the final kill of the night.
Up Next
Penn is back at home on Friday, hosting Princeton in the first Ivy League match for both teams. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
