Penn 3, Harvard 1
Playing in front of the rowdiest crowd they will see all season, the Quakers (15-4, 6-1) played their best match of the year to beat the Crimson, 3-1 (30-24, 24-30, 30-15, 30-20).
With more than 400 students camped inside The Palestra waiting to reserve basketball season tickets, the battle between the Ivy’s top two squads became a showcase event.
“There were 400 guy basketball fans, and they were all yelling ‘HARVARD... HARVARD... HARVARD...You suck!’” said sophomore setter Kim Gould.
The Crimson failed to perform at its best for the crowd.
After battling back from a game one loss to tie the match at 1-1, Harvard had its momentum abruptly halted when the Quakers rolled to a 30-15 game three victory behind the power play of junior middle blocker Heather Janssen. Janssen posted 24 kills and six blocks.
“Penn played really well, and we didn’t step up to the plate,” Weiss said.
Ogbechie led the Crimson with 19 kills and 18 digs.
Schweitzer and junior outside hitter Allison Bendush also had double-doubles, while Jellin posted 45 assists and 13 digs.
—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.