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Friday, October 4
Princeton, N.J.
7 p.m.
Brown University
at
Princeton
Photo by: Lydia Vigneau
Volleyball Heads to Princeton & Penn for Weekend Series
10/3/2024 2:09:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown volleyball hits the road for the first time in Ivy League play heading south for matches at Princeton and Penn. The Bears will play the Tigers on Friday (7 p.m.) and the Quakers on Saturday (5 p.m.)
Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
GAME LINKS
@ Princeton | Watch | Live Stats
@ Penn | Watch | Live Stats
Game Notes
FIRST SERVE
The Brown University Sports Foundation (BUSF) is the backbone of our athletics program, playing a crucial role in enhancing the student-athlete experience. This is possible through philanthropic support from our alumni, parents, fans, and friends. Your gift through the Sports Foundation can immediately impact today's Brown Bears, helping them excel in the classroom, in competition, and, most importantly, in the community. Please click here to learn more about how you can support the Bears.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
For the latest on Brown Athletics, please follow @BrownU_Bears on X and @BrownU_Bears on Instagram. Like BrownUBears on Facebook and subscribe to the BrownAthletics YouTube channel.
Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
GAME LINKS
@ Princeton | Watch | Live Stats
@ Penn | Watch | Live Stats
Game Notes
FIRST SERVE
- Brown hits the road for two Ivy League matchups this weekend as the Bears travel to Princeton before heading to Penn. The Bears are looking to avoid back-to-back 0-2 Ivy League starts after falling to Yale and Princeton last year to begin league play.
- Beau Vanderlaan enters her senior year on college hill having been named first team all-ivy in each of her first three seasons. Vanderlaan could become the first bear to be named First Team All-Ivy in all four years since Tomo Nakanishi from 1996-99.
- Jessie Golden was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Ivy last season after leading the league and finishing fourth in the NCAA with 5.65 digs per set. Her total was 1.31 digs per set higher than second-place in the league.
- Brown's 3-7 start to the season is the worst start for the Bears since 2016 when Brown started 2-8 in its first 10 matches.
- Brown has dropped four-straight regular season matchups against the Tigers but has had Princeton's number in the last two Ivy League Tournaments, beating Princeton in the semifinals of each tournament.
- Brown has had a tough time in Princeton historically. The Bears have won just one game in Princeton, a four-set win in 2021, since 1999. Brown earned a win on the road against the Tigers in 1998 and overall have just three wins at Princeton in the series history.
- Brown has turned the tide in the series against Penn in recent history, having won six-straight matches against the Quakers and eight of the last nine. Four of the last six meetings against Penn have been 3-0 wins for the Bears.
- Brown will begin the season with nine-straight games away from home. It will be the most games away to start a season since playing nine-straight on the road back in 2018. During that stretch, Brown went 6-3.
- The Bears did not spend much time on the court last season, playing in 16 straight-set matches. The Bears finished out the regular season with 10 of their final 12 matches going three sets. Overall, Brown was 14-2 in three set matches. The Bears only went five sets in three matches all season, going 2-1.
- Brown has two players closing in on 1,000-career digs. Senior Victoria Vo enters the weekend with 989 digs and junior Jessie Golden has 861 digs.
- Senior Beau Vanderlaan is etching her name in the Brown record book when it comes to blocks. Vanderlaan currently has 357 blocks, which sits third all-time in Brown program history. The Chicago native is currently third-place all-time and if she gets to 400 blocks, would become just the second Bear to ever reach the milestone (Leyla Goldsmith '97 - 428).
- Vanderlaan also has a career blocks per set mark of 1.1, which would be the best number by a Bear in program history.
- Brown has enjoyed the comfort of home in the last three seasons as the Bears have compiled a 22-6 record inside of the Pizzitola Sports Center. Brown's eight home wins last season were the most since an eight-win effort back in 2014.
- Brown is in the midst of the most successful stretches in its program history. The Bears have had its top two seasons in terms of winning percentage (2021 -.769, 2023 - .731) in the past three years with 2022 posting a .600 clip. It is the first time in program history Brown has had three-straight season with at least a .600 overall winning percentage.
- A winning overall record this season for the Bears would mark four-straight winning seasons for Brown for the first time since 1998-2001.
- This has translated to Ivy League play as well as Brown is 32-10 over the past three years. The Bears have posted at least nine Ivy wins in each of the last three seasons for the first time in program history and two of the only three season with double-digit wins have happened during this stretch. 2001 was the first year teams played 14 Ivy League games, before that it was only seven.
- Brown had not had a stretch of three-straight years with at least a .640 winning percentage in Ivy League play in its history before the last three seasons.
- Head Coach Taylor Virtue needs just four wins this season to become the winningest head coach through two seasons in program history. Virtue could also become the first head coach for Brown to post winning overall and Ivy records in her first two seasons.
- Brown has seen youth enter its lineup this season with the Bears getting consistent play in the middle and on the outside from sophomore Ally Panzloff and first years Fisayo Afonja and Sophia Wolfson. Panzloff and Afonja have both played in all 10 matches for Brown and Wolfson has appeared in nine.
- Panzloff is second on the team with 118 kills and 3.03 kills per set. She began her season with seven-straight matches with double-figure kills and has led the Bears in kills in four matches this year.
- Wolfson and Afonja are both averaging over 1.10 kills per set and on defense, Wolfson has 24 blocks this season, while Afonja has 17. Wolfson has picked up her offense as of late, finishing with nine kills in three of her last five matches.
- Hot starts are a good sign for the Bears as Brown is 22-4 under Taylor Virtue when winning the first set of a match and 17-2 when winning the first two sets. The only two losses were to Yale last season and the season opener against Providence this year.
- When the Bears lose the first set under Virtue, Brown is 0-5 this season and 0-9 overall.
- Princeton is 3-8 on the year and 1-1 in Ivy League play after splitting a weekend series to start league play.
- Prior to beating Penn in its last match, Princeton had dropped eight-straight matches.
- Kamryn Chaney leads Princeton with 4.02 kills per set. Erin McNair is second on the team, averaging just 2.29 kills per set.
- Three Tigers are averaging over 2.00 digs per set, led by Sydney Bold with 2.93.
- Penn is 7-4 with a 1-1 Ivy League record. The Quakers had three-straight four-set wins before falling to Princeton last Saturday.
- The Quakers are hitting .260 as a team and holding opponents to .198 on the season.
- Zada Sanger is leading the offense with 3.35 kills per set and the offense runs through Emery Moore with 8.17 assists per set.
- Jalen Tennyson leads the net defense with 1.23 blocks per set and four Quakers are averaging over 2.00 digs per set.
The Brown University Sports Foundation (BUSF) is the backbone of our athletics program, playing a crucial role in enhancing the student-athlete experience. This is possible through philanthropic support from our alumni, parents, fans, and friends. Your gift through the Sports Foundation can immediately impact today's Brown Bears, helping them excel in the classroom, in competition, and, most importantly, in the community. Please click here to learn more about how you can support the Bears.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
For the latest on Brown Athletics, please follow @BrownU_Bears on X and @BrownU_Bears on Instagram. Like BrownUBears on Facebook and subscribe to the BrownAthletics YouTube channel.
Players Mentioned
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