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With last weekend behind them, the Red and Blue look now to face the Lions for their first win in Ivy League play. Though conference games just started and Quaker confidence is still high, an 0-2 Ivy record for Penn would not bode well.
Only one game into Ivy season, is it too early to talk about the future of Penn volleyball? Not when the future starts now, and especially when that future is starting at hitter, blocker, and libero. As the Quakers took the court against Dayton, three freshmen were part of the starting lineup: outside hitter Aimee Stephenson, middle blocker Kendall Covington, and libero Emmy Friedler.
Over the summer, the libero jersey and the keys to Penn volleyball’s defense were turned over from one of the nation's best defensive specialists to a freshman from a small town just outside of Chicago.
After suffering a brutal straight-set loss to Princeton in Friday night's Ivy League opener, Penn came into Sunday's non-conference battle with Dayton, looking to regain its footing before its upcoming Ivy bout with Columbia.
Princeton (6-5, 1-0 Ivy) was led by the skyscraping duo of senior middle blocker Nicole Kincade and junior right-side hitter Kendall Peterkin, who combined for a whopping 27 kills.
Is it a coincidence that as the Penn volleyball starters were introduced before they faced Temple, junior outside hitter Alexis Genske was the first player announced?
Penn volleyball came into the final day of the Big 5 Tournament - and non-conference play - with a six-game losing streak hanging over its head. Coach Kerry Carr's squad got that monkey off its back, but Penn was unable to pull off a sweep.
However, Villanova was too much to handle on Friday evening, as the Wildcats dispatched the hosting Quakers in straight sets to hand Penn its sixth straight loss after a 2-0 start to the season.
The Quakers have one week until they open Ivy League play against Princeton, but this weekend, they face Villanova, La Salle and Temple in the Big 5 Volleyball Tournament at the Palestra.
The Quakers lost three close showdowns to highly-ranked teams at the Stanford Invitational in California this past weekend, yet the athletes developed chemistry that made the cross country campaign a success.
Penn volleyball visited California this weekend for the Stanford Tournament, falling to three high-quality opponents: Santa Clara, No. 1 Stanford and No. 20 Duke. However, the Red and Blue took away a wealth of experience with eight players from the Golden State returning home for the weekend.