Volleyball moves to top of the Ivies

The Penn volleyball team has just added two words to its vocabulary -- "magic number."

With half the season remaining, a combination of seven Penn wins and Brown losses will give the Quakers their first conference title since 1990.

After beating Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend, the Quakers have moved into sole possession of first place in the Ivy League standings.

Going into the weekend, Penn was in second place, trailing Cornell by half a game.

But the Big Red struggled on Friday night, dropping a straight-game decision to Brown, allowing Penn to move into the top spot.

The news reached the Quakers when Penn coach Kerry Major checked the scores on the Internet after her team returned to the hotel in which they were staying after defeating Harvard.

"I said, 'Oh my gosh! Cornell lost in three to Brown!" Major said. "All the girls heard and we were jumping up and down in the hotel lobby. Then we knew we just wanted to hold on to first place when we faced Dartmouth the next day."

Penn (12-4, 6-1 Ivy League) opened up a stellar weekend of play by notching a 30-28, 30-23, 30-22 victory over Harvard (9-9, 2-6) on Friday night at the Malkin Athletic Center in Cambridge, Mass.

The Penn victory can be attributed to a number of things, not the least of which is tough serving. The Quakers had seven aces on the night against only one service error.

"It just seemed like they had a couple of weak passers in the rotation that I was serving," said Penn junior Kai Gonsorowski, who had a match-high four aces. "I personally didn't feel like I was serving that aggressively, but in the gym the ball was floating quite a bit, so that might have thrown them off."

Penn's offense was also extremely efficient, collecting 52 kills alongside only 14 hitting errors. The Quakers hit .279 for the match, outdueling Harvard's high-potent offense, which hit .207.

Leading Penn's offense was College junior right-side hitter Stacey Carter, who had a match-high 12 kills and hit .333.

"Our passing was really good and we connected really well with the setters," Carter said. "So I think my hitting was the result of everyone else's efforts."

Carter also had a match-high 10 kills in Penn's 30-17, 30-16, 30-23 win over Dartmouth (7-11, 2-6) on Saturday.

Led by senior outside hitter Stephanie Horan, Penn's scrappy defense -- ranked third in Division I in digs per game -- also played an important role in the win. Horan had 18 digs, and also served five aces.

Penn has now won four straight matches and 11 of its last 12 after opening the season with a 1-3 record.

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