PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team enters the 2025 season with heightened expectations and a new head coach. The new ingredients get thrown in the blender for the first time this weekend, as the Quakers travel across the country to take part in the Anteater Classic. The multi-day tournament. hosted by UC Irvine, will see the Red and Blue play single matches on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
 
Game 1 – PENN (0-0, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. COLORADO (3-0)
Friday, Sept. 5 | 7 p.m. | Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats
 
Game 2 – PENN vs. FRESNO STATE (2-1)
Saturday, Sept. 6 | 4 p.m. | Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats
 
Game 3 – PENN at UC IRVINE (2-1)
Sunday, Sept. 7 | 3 p.m. | Irvine, Calif.
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | 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, 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 Colorado
The Quakers and the Buffs are meeting for the first time.
 
The Series with Fresno State
The Quakers and the Bulldogs are meeting for just the second time. The first meeting also was on a neutral court, as Fresno State defeated Penn 3-0 at the USF Invitational in San Francisco in 1999.
 
The Series with UC Irvine
Penn is meeting the Anteaters for just the fourth time overall and the first time this century—the last meeting took place all the way back in 1997. Like they are doing this weekend, the Quakers have traveled to Irvine for each of the first three matches, losing 3-0 each time in 1988, 1991, and 1997.
 
California Dreamin'
Expect a solid cheering contingent for the Quakers this weekend, as Penn has routinely recruited SoCal through the years and currently boasts seven 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, who played collegiately for the Cal Baptist men. 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. Hagstrom left Bucknell 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 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 from a year ago. 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 as a libero/defensive specialist. And yet the Quakers still remain relatively young: of the remaining 10, only L/DS Abigail Reid (67) and setter 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.
 
*Three returning players have earned All-Ivy recognition at some point during their career. Junior outside hitter Zada Sanger and sophomore middle blocker Adell Murray received honorable mention All-Ivy recognition after last season, while Abigail 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 Emery 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 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 freshman Ellie 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 kill/dig 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; she enters this season needing 166 to reach 1,000.
 
*Sophomore Jenna Garner was a back-line stalwart last year with 134 digs, 68 kills and 16 service aces.
 
*The team has not yet announced captains for the 2025 season.
 
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.