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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Volleyball Looks For Quick Ivy Start At Reigning Champ Penn
September 30, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
LIVE STATS l LIVE VIDEO (subscription required; feed comes from Penn web site)
One year ago, the Penn Quakers were the ones representing the Ivy League in the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament. Princeton is looking for that honor this year, and fittingly, it will try to start that journey Friday night at The Palestra.
Princeton is 5-6 on the season and coming off a 3-1 home victory over Temple last week. The Tigers went 9-5 in Ivy play last year and rallied from an early-season hole to finish third in the league. The Tigers went 0-4 against the top two teams (Penn and Yale) and 9-1 against the rest of the league. An early victory against one of those top two Friday night would put Princeton in an enviable position to start the season.
Penn is 4-7 this season, though it has played a challenging non-league schedule. A common opponent for both teams is Temple; the Quakers swept the Owls in the season opener, though each set was fairly close. Penn has been strong at home over the last two seasons, going 16-6 overall and 11-3 against Ivy League teams.
For Princeton, Lydia Rudnick ranks second in the Ivy League in kills/set with 3.97; she is .1 kill behind the league leader, Dartmouth's Madeline Baird. Freshman and fellow outside hitter Chelsea Parker is coming off her best effort of the young season. She recorded 17 kills and 10 digs in a 3-1 victory over Temple.
Sophomore Jennifer Palmquist has shown more improvement than any returning player from last season. She averages 2.5 kills and .83 blocks per set and has played in 35 of Princeton's 36 sets this season. Last year, she played in a total of 47 sets for the season and averaged only .83 kills per set.
The Tigers have used two setters over the last two seasons, and both are averaging more than six assists per set early this season. Sophomore Molly Bagshaw has a slight edge in assists (6.64 to 6.35), while Venuti has played more sets (31 to 22).
Princeton will return to Dillon Gym for each of the next two weekends. The Oct. 15-16 weekend will be Dig Pink weekend at Princeton; Dig Pink is the name of the Breast Cancer awareness rally that takes place in gyms all over the country during Breast Cancer awareness month (October). You can learn more about Dig Pink here.