The University of Pennsylvania women’s volleyball team is set for a weekend of competition in New England as it continues a five-match road stretch. The Quakers will play Brown University in Providence on Friday, followed by a match against Yale University in New Haven on Saturday.
Penn is aiming to secure a spot in the four-team Ivy League Tournament. Both Brown and Yale are currently ahead of Penn in the league standings, with Yale holding fourth place and a two-game advantage over the Quakers.
The team’s season has included several notable performances. Earlier this year, Penn won three consecutive matches by 3-0 scores, marking the first time since 2009 that they achieved three straight sweeps. Eight out of Penn’s nine wins so far have been sweeps, with only one exception—a 3-1 victory at Harvard.
Nationally, Penn ranks third in attacks per set (38.73), fourth in digs per set (17.78), ninth in assists per set (13.36), and sixteenth in kills per set (14.14). Freshman Addison Pollock is ninth nationally and second among first-year players for digs per set (5.11). Within the Ivy League, Penn leads all teams in these categories and stands second in points per set behind Cornell and Princeton.
Individually, junior Zada Sanger was named Ivy League Player of the Week on September 22 after being named Tournament MVP at the Delaware Invitational. Her classmate Bella Rittenberg also earned all-tournament honors at Delaware.
Of the nine players who have appeared in at least 22 sets during Ivy League play this season, only one is a senior—Anna Shohfi—while four are sophomores and two are freshmen.
This season marks Tyler Hagstrom’s first as head coach for Penn volleyball following his late hiring just before preseason began on July 16. He succeeded Meredith Schamun, who left to become associate head coach at the University of Illinois. Hagstrom previously led Bucknell for five seasons, finishing as their all-time leader in win percentage with a record of 59-48 (.551).
Sophomore Jenna Garner has contributed significantly with 170 kills so far this season and multiple double-double performances combining kills and digs. Sanger leads the team with 215 kills and reached double digits in that category for twelve consecutive matches earlier this year.
Sophomore Adell Murray holds a .315 hitting percentage overall (.342 excluding her performance against Colorado) but missed Penn’s last two matches; she is expected to return this weekend.
Other contributors include sophomore Ellie Siskin—who leads the team with nineteen service aces—and freshman Haley Kerstetter, who has hit .417 during conference play while leading the team with eight solo blocks.
Pollock had a season-high twenty-eight digs during a five-set match against Dartmouth on October 11 and was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week earlier this fall.
At setter, sophomore Emery Moore has recorded 482 assists while Shohfi has added another 226 assists as they share duties.
Penn began its season at tournaments such as the Anteater Classic and Charm City Classic, where several players received all-tournament recognition including Garner and Murray.
Last season under Schamun saw significant improvement from previous years: Penn finished 13-10 overall and went .500 (7-7) within conference play—more than tripling its win totals from two seasons prior when it finished 4-20 overall.
Nearly all core contributors returned for this campaign: Penn retained over ninety percent of its kills, blocks, digs, and service aces from last year’s roster.
Team captains for this season are Shohfi alongside junior Lauren Van Wie.
