The volleyball team broke from recent tradition and did not split its weekend away matches - it lost both of them. The Red (6-12, 3-4 Ivy) dropped two to finish the first half of its Ivy season, losing to the league-leaders Penn (14-4, 7-0 Ivy) on Friday night, 25-16, 25-16, 25-19 before falling to Princeton (6-12, 4-3 Ivy) in four the next day, 25-14, 27-29, 25-11 and 25-21.

“[The weekend] was disappointing,” said head coach Sarah Bernson.

The Friday match was less than the Red’s best work; not that losing to the undefeated Quakers is cause for shame. Penn beat last year’s champions, Yale, and has consistently outgunned its opponents this season with a relentless attack and strong defense.

“[The Quakers] are not as flashy as Yale can be,” Bernson said, “But they work really hard, they know their own team identity, and they execute. They hit hard, they have a good setter, they swing fast and they’re aggressive.”Over your head: Sophomore Madeleine Przybyl jumps for the block during the Red’s 3-1 win over Brown.

Penn’s dominance is evident in the Red’s numbers. Cornell was led by junior outside hitter Alessa Cekauskas, with six kills, while sophomore setter Jordan Reeder started with 19 assists. Penn’s starter at setter, by comparison, registered 37 assists.

While the Red kept with its opponents at the start a 7-1 scoring run buried the squad in the first set.

“Coming into the first match, [everyone] was ready to go,” said senior co-captain and libero Megan Mushovic. “But they just got some runs we couldn’t recover from. WE dug ourselves into a deep hole. Penn has no mercy.”

In the second, both clubs traded the first eight points back and forth, but multiple scoring runs from the home team had a similar effect on the Red’s hopes, culminating in another easy victory.

“It was one of those matches like we had at Syracuse,” Bernson said. “Our chemistry and out team identity had a faltering moment. We weren’t as strong as we have been. We hit to the libero often. We just didn’t terminate.”

In the final set the two teams battled to seven ties among the first nine points. But Penn put its foot down, hard, scoring nine unanswered points to take the daunting 18-9 lead. The Red pulled to within six, but could go no closer.

“[Penn] is very solid,” said Mushovic. “They show you how much they want [the win].”

Another day, another match, and the Red regrouped for its second match in New Jersey. Everything was not clicking the way it should, however.

“It took us a while to get into our system,” Mushovic said. “We couldn’t really pull it all together.”

Struggling with its consistency, the Tigers jumped out to an early 13-3 lead in the first set. The Red had no answer for the onslaught.

We started off slow,” Bernson said. “We were waiting to see what Princeton was going to do.”

Cornell came out swinging in the second set, however, forcing a back-and-forth battle that continued down the stretch and into extra points. A kill by freshman outside hitter Deveney Pula and a Princeton error finally ended the match, giving the Red the 29-27 victory.

“It was a fight,” Mushovic said. “I’m really proud that we came back.”

Then came the ten-minute break that separates sets two and three. The break can be a welcomed respite, or the place momentum goes to die.

Much to the dismay and frustration of Bernson and the Red, on Saturday, the outcome was the latter. “It’s hard to get back on that emotional high,” Bernson said.

The Tigers capitalized on every Red mistake, earning eight points before their opponents could get one ball to land on the hardwood. While Cornell scraped its way to a 13-5 score, but a second run ¬— of seven this time — broke the Red’s spirit for good.

“We just started off with a lot of errors on our end,” she said. “We got in a hole.”

Errors were certainly a problem for the Red, one that Bernson chalked up to the young team’s inexperience, as well as a general lack of focus.

“It’s just being comfortable with your teammates,” she said. “[It’s] knowing your teammates can perform and not having to question it. At almost every aspect of the game, someone young is touching the ball.”

In the fourth set a clearly demoralized Cornell squad was no match for the home team, which rolled to another set victory, and the match.

“Princeton did a good job playing their system. We definitely need to get back to basic,” Mushovic said.

In terms of what the team needs to improve, heading into the second half of the season, Mushovic was emphatic.

“Obviously we need to work on being more consistent,” she said. “Otherwise, there’s just no point.”

From a senior leadership standpoint, Mushovic stressed that the time for pep talks was over. “We need to show the girls and our coach what we are going to do, and stop just verbalizing it all of the time.”