Volleyball sweeps New England rivals

Don't tell the Penn volleyball team that the weak part of its game is offense.

After disposing of Yale in four games on Friday night, the Quakers -- whose hitting percentage has been around .200 all season -- hit a mind-boggling .323 en route to a 3-1 victory over Brown at the Palestra on Saturday.

"What we carried onto the court against [Brown] was the sweat and hard work of every day in practice last week," said Penn coach Kerry Major, who topped the century mark in career coaching victories this weekend (101) and tied former Penn coach Ralph Hippolyte for third place on Penn's all-time coaching victories list (68).

The two wins kept the Quakers (10-4, 4-1 Ivy League) just half a game behind Cornell for first place in the Ivy League standings.

Leading the offensive onslaught against Brown (9-9, 4-2) was Penn sophomore Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan. The 5-foot-10 outside hitter led all players with 20 kills and a phenomenal .487 hitting percentage.

"They really left a lot of holes in the block, and they left line almost all night," said Kwak-Hefferan, who is also a staff writer for The Daily Pennsylvanian. "I've been working a lot in the past two weeks on getting around a big block, and I felt like it finally came together."

Brown blockers had a tough time staying with Penn because the Quakers have been working on a number of quicker sets in practice during the past week.

"We had a little resistance at first and the quicker sets are harder to run," Penn senior setter Jodie Antypas said. "But it's more successful and it's opening up more options offensively."

Another factor in Penn's 30-25, 22-30, 30-15, 30-24 victory was its blocking advantage over the Bears. Led by Penn senior middle hitter Kelly Szczerba, the Quakers outblocked Brown, 12-2.

"At practice, we were working on faster sets to the outside and to the right side," said Szczerba, who had a match-high seven blocks. "When you have to practice against it, it helps when you play against teams that set a little bit slower."

Szczerba also added seven blocks in Penn's 30-28, 26-30, 30-15, 30-26 win over Yale (6-9, 0-6), several of which came against Elis middle hitter Carissa Abbott, one of the nation's top blockers.

"Carissa is the best blocker in the league [statistically], but Kelly outblocked her, 7-2," Major said. "I think that was Kelly just saying, 'No. I'm the best blocker in the league.' It was great to see Kelly shut her down."

Penn freshman middle hitter Natalie Francis added four total blocks, while getting nine kills and hitting a match-high .500.

"We had a really good scouting report," Francis said. "We were very focused on closing the block, and fortunately we were able to do that effectively."

The Quakers will take their improved offense and consistently strong blocking up the East Coast, as Penn faces Harvard and Dartmouth away from the Palestra next weekend.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.