IRVINE, Calif. – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team rebounded from a straight-set loss Friday night with a straight-set win on Saturday afternoon at the Anteater Classic. The win came over Fresno State and was the Quakers' second match in the season-opening event being hosted by UC Irvine at the Bren Events Center.
 
Set scores were 25-21, 27-25, 25-20.
 
Penn is now 1-1 on the young season, while Fresno fell to 2-4.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*The win was Penn's first under new head coach Tyler Hagstrom.
 
*Penn hit .266 on the day with 57 kills and just 16 errors on 154 attacks.
 
*Four different players reached double figures in kills, led by junior Zada Sanger who put down 15 kills and hit .394 on the day. She also had a block solo.
 
*Sophomore Jenna Garner had a double-double on Saturday, with 11 kills and 18 digs.
 
*Classmate Adell Murray also had 11 kills, hitting a team-high .417.
 
*Freshman Haley Kerstetter finished with ten kills and added three digs and a block solo.
 
*Sophomore Ellie Siskin flirted with a double-double, finishing the day with seven kills and nine digs. She also led the Red and Blue with two service aces.
 
*Sophomore setter Emery Moore dished out 39 assists (13.0 per set) and also came up with 16 digs.
 
*Freshman libero Addison Pollock led Penn with 22 digs.
 
How It Happened
SET 1: The teams were tied seven times on the way to 9-9, but a 5-1 Penn run put the Quakers in front 13-10. A Brooklyn Washington kill got the Bulldogs within two, at 14-12, but Garner bookended a pair of kills around kills by her classmates Siskin and Murray to put the Red and Blue in front, 18-12. It was still 24-19 when Fresno scored a pair of points, forcing a Penn timeout. Out of the stoppage, Kerstetter put down her third kill of the set to give Penn its first set win of the season. Garner, Murray and Siskin all had four kills with Murray hitting .571 (4-0-7) and Garner .375 (4-1-8).
 
SET 2: This was a back-and-forth affair, the teams tying 16 times and going through eight lead changes. The first three-point lead didn't come until a pair of Sanger kills put Penn in front, 15-12, but a 6-1 Fresno State run pushed the Bulldogs past the Quakers, 19-17. FSU's biggest lead came at 21-18, and it was still 23-21 when Penn scored three in a row on kills by Murray, Sanger and Sanger again. Facing set point, Fresno got a kill from Addison Haluska to make things 24-24. Kerstetter blocked a Haluska attack on the next point, only for Jenna Legault to put down a kill for the Bulldogs to make the score 25-25. However, Sanger closed out a spectacular offensive set—nine kills without an error on 17 attacks—with a pair of kills that gave Penn the 27-25 victory. Kerstetter had four more kills without an error on nine attacks (.444), while Murray had four kills and hit .300 (4-1-10).
 
SET 3: Fresno got out to a quick start, but Penn used a 7-1 run to turn a three-point deficit into a 10-7 lead. The teams were tied at 12-12 and 13-13, at which point the Quakers scored two points in a row to gain a lead they wouldn't relinquish. A massive sequence occurred with Penn leading 19-17, as Murray and Kerstetter sandwiched kills around a Fresno attack error to make the score 22-17. The teams traded the next six points after that, Kerstetter clinching the match with her final kill of the day. Sanger had four more kills without an error—giving her 13 without an error in the last two sets—and hit .571 in the final set (4-0-7). Murray and Kerstetter had three kills each with Murray hitting .429 (3-0-7).
 
Up Next
Penn will close out play at the Anteater Classic tomorrow afternoon with tournament host UC Irvine at 3 p.m. Eastern (noon local).
 
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.