PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team engaged in the longest set in program history since college volleyball went to first-to-25 sets in 2008 Friday night against archrival Princeton. The Tigers were able to win that set, though, and rode that momentum to a 3-0 victory at The Palestra.
 
Set scores were 37-35, 25-21, 25-15. The 37-35 score in that first set marked just the seventh time the Quakers have played a set with that many points; the other six took place during the era when colleges played first-to-30 sets, from 2001-07. The most recent of those took place on November 12, 2005, Penn beating Columbia 38-36 in the first set of an eventual 3-0 win.
 
Penn fell for the second time this week and is now 6-5 overall, while Princeton—the defending Ivy League co-champion who was picked second in the Ivy's 2025 preseason poll—improved to 6-3. Friday's match was the Ivy opener for both teams.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*The first set featured 22 ties and nine lead changes. Starting at 24-23, Penn fended off eight set points and Princeton fought off four before prevailing.
 
*Junior Zada Sanger had a team-high 13 kills for Penn on Friday night and added a block assist.
 
*Sophomore Ellie Siskin was the other Penn player to reach double digits in kills, with 11; she also had two digs and a block assist.
 
*Sophomore Jenna Garner finished one kill shy of her fifth double-double this season, ending the night with nine kills and 13 digs as well as a block assist.
 
*Freshman Haley Kerstetter put down eight kills on 15 attacks without an error (.533 hitting percentage) and also had two block assists.
 
*Sophomore Adell Murray also had no attack errors, with six kills on 15 attacks (.300), and led the Quakers with four block assists.
 
*Sophomore setter Emery Moore dished out 34 assists and had nine digs and two kills on Friday night, while senior Anna Shohfi added 12 assists and eight digs.
 
*Freshman libero Addison Pollock led all players with 24 digs on Friday night, adding five assists, while junior Elsa McDermott had 11 digs.
 
How It Happened
SET 1 (35-37): Where to start? The largest lead either team had at any point was three points, the last of those coming when Penn went up 20-17. Princeton scored the next three points to tie things back up, only for Siskin to put down a kill and the Tigers to have an attack error to put Penn in front 22-20. Another Siskin kill broke a 22-22 tie, but Princeton scored the next two points and had its first set point. That was thwarted when Moore and Murray blocked a Tigers attack to tie things at 24-24.
 
Things were just getting started. Sanger's kill gave Penn its first set point, but Princeton responded. Another Sanger kill was matched, and then the roles were reversed when still another Sanger kill tied things at 27-27. Penn fended off two more set points at 28 and 29, then had set point on a Garner kill that was matched by the Tigers. Garner then tied things at 31, and Murray was the heroine tying things at 32 and 33. A Kerstetter kill gave Penn its next set point, but Princeton responded with the next two points. A Moore kill tied this set one final time, at 35-35, but a pair of kills by Princeton's Valerie Nutakor finally ended things. Siskin finished with seven kills and hit .600 in the set, while Garner and Sanger put down six apiece and Pollock finished with 12 digs.
 
SET 2 (21-25): Penn led 4-2 early but Princeton scored four in a row to flip things. The Tigers still led 13-10 when Murray and Garner sandwiched kills on either side of a Princeton set error. That tied things at 13-13, and the score was tied three more times at 14, 15 and 17. Kerstetter then put down consecutive kills to start a three-point run that put the Quakers in front, 20-17, and forced a Princeton timeout. Out of the stoppage, a Penn attack error opened the door and Princeton stormed through—the Tigers scored six straight points, three on each side of a Penn timeout. The Red and Blue finally answered when a Kerstetter attack drew a block error, but the Tigers scored the next two points to close things out. In all, it was an 8-1 run for the visitors. Sanger had four kills in the set while both Kerstetter and Murray hit .429 on three kills without an error. Pollock had another 11 digs.
 
SET 3 (15-25): The teams were tied at 7-7 when Princeton established itself; the Tigers got kills from four different players and a pair of service aces as part of an 8-1 run. The wind was out of Penn's sails at that point, and the Tigers got the margin to double digits at 22-12 on the way to the match victory. Sanger finished the set with three kills, while Siskin made good on both of her attacks and Kerstetter had two kills on three attacks.
 
Up Next
Penn is back at home for a pair of Ivy League matches next weekend, closing out this modest four-game homestand with preseason favorite Yale on Friday at 7 p.m. and then Brown on Saturday at 5 p.m.
 
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.