Harvard took four of its next five—including two from Brown, one from Columbia and one from Yale—before dropping its final three contests of the season.

But the Crimson hardly faded. In the final game of the season, Harvard put together one of its best performances of the season against the Quakers in the Palestra.

The Crimson dropped a tight first game 31-29, but stormed back to take the second 30-26. The third and fourth frames followed the same pattern as Penn won 30-28 to take a 2-1 lead in the match only to have Harvard respond with a 30-26 game four win. But for the sixth time this season, the Crimson failed to capture the deciding fifth game, as it fell 15-11.

“It hurt to lose, but I don’t think we can be too upset with the game,” Schweitzer said after the loss to the Quakers.

The match against Penn was the final appearance for Harvard seniors Allison Bendush, Nathalie Miller, Amy Dildine and Pospisil. “The seniors are the heart and soul of the team in every way,” Schweitzer said. “Their attitude and work ethic have made Harvard volleyball what it is today.”

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.