Sports Shorts: Volleyball, sprint teams defeated

Women’s Volleyball: Penn comeback sinks hosts

Despite a career-high 18 kills from sophomore middle blocker Tiana Woolridge, the women’s volleyball team surrendered a 2-0 lead and fell to Penn in five sets on Friday evening. Princeton (9-9 overall, 6-2 Ivy League) remains in second place in the Ivy League but is now two games behind Yale with six matches to play.

The Quakers (10-9, 5-3) were only three points away from a straight-set defeat, trailing 22-16 in the third set, but they benefited from several Princeton hitting errors to win eight of nine points and stay alive. Penn used an eight-point run early in the fourth set and a five-point run early in the fifth to pull off an exciting comeback, avenging a 3-2 loss in Philadelphia earlier in the season.

The visitors collected 13 blocks in the match, 10 of which involved Susan Stuecheli. Freshman right side hitter Kendall Peterkin had 16 kills for Princeton, while senior outside hitter Lydia Rudnick added 15.

Sprint Football: Army drops Tigers, 59-0

After a series of close defeats, the sprint football team was blown out by Army on Saturday afternoon. The Black Knights (6-0 overall, 5-0 CSFL) jumped out to a 45-point lead at halftime and cruised to a 59-0 victory over the Tigers (0-5, 0-6).

Army, which has yet to lose a game this season, scored only 43 seconds into the game and continued to pile up points afterward. The Black Knights accumulated 457 yards of offense while holding the Tigers to negative-four.

Saturday’s game marked the sixth consecutive meeting in which Army has scored at least 50 points against the Tigers. Princeton, which has lost four games this season by a touchdown or less, will have its last chance at victory in two weeks when it visits Penn.

Crew: Rowers open season at Head of the Charles

The Princeton crews competed in their first races this weekend, competing at the annual Head of the Charles event. The first varsity boat of the women’s open crew finished second among college teams, coming in behind only Virginia, while the lightweight men also finished second among collegians.

The men’s heavyweights finished fourth in collegiate competition, as did the women’s lightweight crew. Princeton will return to Lake Carnegie for the Princeton Chase next weekend.