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Behind the career-high numbers from Elizabeth Semmens — who earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors — Penn defeated both Dartmouth and Harvard in four sets to remain undefeated in Ivy League play.
Freshman Lauren Martin — whose performance earned her Ivy League Freshman of the Week honors — and the Penn volleyball team will take to the road this weekend, visiting Dartmouth and Harvard.
History repeated itself as it took all five sets for Penn to take down defending champion Yale and improve to 3-0 in the Ivy League. They now have an inside track at dethroning the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs (11-1, 1-0 Ivy) are off to an even better start this year, and will try to avoid a repeat when Penn (10-4, 1-0) visits Saturday for a 4 p.m. matchup. The Quakers’ road trip begins tonight with a 7 p.m. contest against Brown.
Despite playing in Hawkins’ favorite venue, the Quakers greeted junior Julia Swanson’s return from injury with a 1-2 record as hosts of the Holiday Inn HD Tournament. Penn beat St. Francis (Pa.), 3-0, but fell 3-0 to Santa Clara and 3-1 to tournament champion Albany.
In the second game of this weekend’s Holiday Inn tournament at the Palestra, the Quakers (8-2) will take on Santa Clara (8-4), which coach Kerry Carr said is easily the best team on the non-conference schedule.
The Quakers defeated Ball State in four sets and Towson in five. But Elizabeth Semmens could only manage eight kills as the entire Penn squad struggled Saturday and was swept by George Washington.
In four of the last six seasons, volleyball's pre-Ivy schedule has included a trip to California, a state that boasts the best volleyball recruits (including nine of the 23 current Quakers).
With a new season kicking off this weekend as the Quakers host Temple, La Salle and Villanova in the Big 5 Tournament, coach Kerry Carr knows that improved blocking, especially by the middle hitters, will be the key to success in 2009.