Women's Volleyball Falls to Penn in Five

The Harvard women’s volleyball team saw its six-game home win streak come to an end as Penn (14-9, 8-4 Ivy) outlasted the Crimson (13-8, 8-4 Ivy) over five sets on Saturday.

The loss allowed the Quakers to grab ahold of second place in the Ancient Eight, splitting the position with Harvard. Yale locked up the league title with a sweep of Princeton, also on Saturday.

“Penn was definitely a disappointment,” co-captain Natalie Doyle said. “It was one of those matches where you can’t point to one thing you did wrong. Penn scouted us really well.”

After headlining the attack unit on Friday night in a win over Princeton, freshman outside hitter Grace Weghorst and sophomore outside hitter Kathleen Wallace both drilled 13 kills each.

“I really admire in Grace and [freshman setter] Cori [Bain] that they are very aggressive in their attacks and that takes a lot of courage,” Wallace said.

Bain notched her fifth triple-double of the season just a day after getting her twelfth double-double this fall. She hit a team-high 14 kills and added 25 assists and 13 digs.

“We played well and we fought hard,” Doyle said. “They had a really solid block and we weren’t able to adequately counter that. The fight was there, the chemistry was there and the team spirit was unwavering.”

The Crimson traded set wins with Penn over the first four sets, with the Crimson taking the first and third frames and the Quakers taking the rest.

After a fourth set in which Penn took the reins for a win, 25-13, the two teams played a tight final stanza. Harvard played four different match point opportunities before a timeout by the Quakers allowed Penn to regroup and rattle off three straight points to capture the overall win, 18-16.

“One thing we can take away from this match is our need to be able to adapt quickly to our opponents when they are doing the same to us,” Wallace said. “Penn’s blocks got better as the match went on and their defense was very scrappy.”

The game was the final homestand for seniors Doyle, Erin Cooney and Teresa Skelly. The team has not reached eight Ivy wins since 2004.

“As a team it’s the best season we’ve had in several years,” Doyle said. “Right now we’re tied for second so our goal for now is to win out.”

—Staff writer Cordelia F. Mendez can be reached at cordelia.mendez@thecrimson.com.