W. volleyball's title hopes shattered in loss to Penn

There's no shame in second place, but after being so close to the top, it can be hard to accept. This is something the women's volleyball team will have to do, however, after capping off a very successful season with a 3-1 loss to Penn last night at the Palestra.

A win for Princeton (17-6, 11-3) would have given it a share of the Ivy League title and would have set up a Saturday showdown against the same Quaker team to see which would advance to the NCAA tournament.

The Tigers struggled from the beginning, getting down early in the first game, 7-2. Despite eventually getting it back to 17-16, Princeton couldn't quite hang with Penn, losing the initial game, 30-28.

The second game started off promising for the Tigers, as they jumped out to a 6-4 advantage. The Quakers dominated from there on out, however, taking the game, 30-20.

Princeton, as it did in the first contest between the two teams, came back to take the third game to push the match to a fourth. Clutch hitting down the stretch gave the Tigers a 30-27 victory in that third frame.

But the Tigers couldn't carry the momentum over into the fourth game, quickly getting down, 19-9. From that point, there wasn't much the Tigers could do against the talented Penn team. The final game of the match — and season — ended by the score of 30-20.

To lead the Princeton effort in her last game was senior outside hitter Kellie Cramm with 18 kills. Sophomore setter Jenny Senske contributed 51 assists. Freshman libero Jenny McReynolds, coming off a concussion suffered in Friday's game, led the defense with 27 digs.