Volleyball Makes Trip to Princeton and Penn for Ivy Weekend

Friday, October 3

Princeton, N.J.

7 p.m.

Brown University

Princeton

Photo by: Kayleigh Halasz

Volleyball Makes Trip to Princeton and Penn for Ivy Weekend

10/2/2025 11:30:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Watch (Princeton)Live Stats (Princeton)Watch (Penn)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown volleyball remains on the road for two matches this weekend as Ivy League play continues for the Bears. Brown will travel to Princeton on Friday (Oct. 3) before finishing the weekend at Penn on Saturday (Oct. 4).

The game against Princeton will begin at 7 p.m. and first serve at Penn is set for 5 p.m. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+

GAME LINKS
at Princeton | Friday, Oct. 3 | 7 p.m.
Watch | Live Stats
at Penn | Saturday, Oct. 4 | 5 p.m.
Watch | Live Stats

THE FIRST SERVE

The Bears will continue their time away from home with another road weekend, this time making the trip to Princeton and Penn as Ivy League play rolls on. Brown will face the Tigers on Friday (Oct. 3) before playing Penn on Saturday (Oct. 4).
Brown dropped its first Ivy League game of the season last weekend with a four-set loss at Yale. It is the fourth-straight year that Brown has started Ivy League play 0-1. Brown has fallen to 0-2 in each of the last two seasons, both times playing Yale and Princeton as their first two games in Ivy League play.
Brown has not beaten Princeton in regular season play since Nov. 5, 2021 when the Bears won in three sets in Providence. Brown has beaten Princeton in two of the three meetings in the Ivy League Tournament, but Princeton took last year's semifinal meeting in straight sets.
Last season, Brown dropped their first matchup against the Quakers as the Bears fell to 0-3 to start Ivy League play. The loss snapped a six-match winning streak against Penn. Brown would return the favor later in the season, sweeping Penn at home.

LEADING THE BEARS

Mariia Sidorova continues to lead Brown's offense with 3.40 kills per set and has led Brown in kills in six of the 10 matches this season. She posted a season-high 17 kills against Marist on Sept. 21.
The offense runs through Julia Kakkis, who is averaging 9.31 assists per set. Kakkis has had 30+ assists in seven matches this year, including each of the last three.
Sophia Wolfson continues to dominate for Brown, averaging 1.51 blocks per set and hitting a team-high .356. Wolfson led the Bears with 14 kills and added five blocks against Yale. Wolfson's block per set number is 12th in the NCAA.
Jessie Golden is second in the Ivy League and 28th in the NCAA with 4.66 digs per set. Golden has had back-to-back 20-dig matches heading into the weekend.

SCOUTING PRINCETON

Princeton enters the weekend with a 6-3 record and a 1-0 mark in Ivy League play after beating Penn last weekend.
The Tigers are seventh in the NCAA with 13.40 assists per set and 19th in the NCAA with 13.97 kills per set. Both of those numbers are second in the Ivy League.
Sydney Draper leads the Ivy League and is seventh in the NCAA with 11.03 assists per set. Lucia Scalamandre is tops in the Ivy and seventh in the NCAA with a .458 hitting percentage.
Valerie Nutakor leads the offense with 3.37 kills per set.

SCOUTING PENN

Penn is 6-5 and 0-1 in Ivy League play. The Quakers will face off against Yale before taking on Brown.
The Quakers lead the NCAA in kills per set (14.84), digs per set (19.00) and assists per set (14.03). Individually, Addison Pollock is fifth in the NCAA and leading the Ivy League with 5.53 digs per set.
Zada Sanger leads the offense with 3.51 kills per set and Jenna Garner is averaging 3.11 kills per set.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN...

Brown will have to get used to being away from home as the Bears will play their first 14 games away from the Pizzitola Sports Center. The Bears will play their first five Ivy League games away from home before taking on Harvard on Oct. 17.

COMING UP GOLDEN

Jessie Golden was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season. The Tampa, Fla., native, as well as former Bear Victoria Vo have combined to give Brown three of the last four Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Golden reached 1,000-career digs last season and currently has 1,256 digs. Golden is just 176 digs away from moving into third all-time in Brown program history.
Golden comes into her senior year with a career 4.06 digs per set number. That number would be third all-time in program history. Golden has finished with a higher digs per set number than 4.06 in each of her last two seasons.

KAKKIS TAKING CONTROL

Sophomore Julia Kakkis took control of Brown's offense when the freshman setter took over the spot at the beginning of Ivy League play last season. Kakkis finished the year with 8.81 assists per set and earned Honorable Mention Ivy League honors in her first year on College Hill.
Kakkis finished the year with 16-straight matches of double-figure assists and had a season-best 53 assists against Princeton.
This season, Kakkis has again been at the helm of Brown's offense as the sophomore is averaging 9.31 assists per set. Kakkis has twice gone over 40 assists and has reached the 30-assist mark in seven matches this season, including each of the last three.

NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

Brown will be playing on ESPNU for the second-straight season as the Bears will host Princeton on national TV on Nov. 2 at 12 p.m. Last year Brown and Princeton also played on ESPNU in Providence with Princeton coming away with a five-set win.

WINNING WAYS

Brown has now posted four-straight seasons with winning records in Ivy League play after finished 8-6 last season. Brown's tied its longest stretch of winning league records as Brown was over .500 from 1987-90. The Bears posted a .500 record or better from 1983-90.
Brown's 11 wins last season made it six-straight seasons of double-digit wins for Brown. The last time Brown had seven-straight double-digit win seasons came from 1996-2002.

SOAKING UP THE SUNSHINE

Brown made its first trip to Florida since 2018, when the Bears made the trip to Stetson for a three-game tournament. During the trip to UCF, Brown pulled off a four-set win over the host Knights, giving Brown its first win over a Power 4 team in program history.

WOLFSON'S HOT START

Brown sophomore Sophia Wolfson got off to a hot start at the Ocean State Cup, taking over as Brown's starting middle. Wolfson finished with double-digit kills in two matches, including a career-high 14 against URI. Wolfson also hit .500 or higher in two matches, hitting .625 against Bryant. For her efforts, Wolfson was named to the Ocean State Cup All-Tournament Team.
Things got better for Wolfson over Brown's trip to UConn as the sophomore put on a career performance in wins over Sacred Heart and Marist. Wolfson finished with 12 blocks in both a three-set win against the Pioneers and a four-set win against the Red Foxes.
It marks just the second time in program history that a Bear has had 12+ blocks in back-to-back matches with the last time being Leyla Goldsmith in 1996 against Columbia and Cornell.

HITTING HIGH

Sophia Wolfson has already hit over .500 in five of Brown's nine matches this season, including a season-best .625 against Bryant. All five of those matches have come with double-figure kills, the lowest a 10-kill performance in Brown's win over UCF (Sept. 14).
The last Bear to have at least five matches with over a .500 hitting percentage (min. 10 attacks) was Beau Vanderlaan, who did it seven times back in 2023. Vanderlaan also had five matches of over .500 hitting and double-figure kills during the season.

SIDOROVA PILING UP THE KILLS

Senior Masha Sidorova has been piling up the kills for the Bears this season, having led the team in kills in six of the nine matches this season. Sidorova leads Brown with 3.42 kills per set and was the first Bear to hit the 100 kill mark this year.
Sidorova picked up back-to-back double-digit kills for the first time this season at UConn's tournament including a season-high 17 against Marist. The senior now has 37 double-figure kill matches in her career.

IVY TIME

Brown begins its ivy League season taking on Yale and Princeton in its first two matches of the schedule. These two teams, along with Brown are the only three teams to make every Ivy League Tournament. Brown has struggled against Princeton and Yale the last three seasons with the Bears going 0-6 against both Yale and Princeton in the regular seasons. The Bears are a combined 27-3 against the other five Ivy League schools.
During the Ivy League Tournament, Brown is 2-1 all-time against Princeton, with all three meetings coming in the semifinal. Brown lost both the 2022 and 2023 Ivy League Tournament final to Yale.

ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS

Brown has had five players earn All-Tournament honors throughout preseason play.
In the first weekend, Sophia Wolfson and Julia Kakkis were named to the Ocean State Cup All-Tournament Team.
Jessie Golden earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team in the second weekend of the season at UCF.
Wolfson and Ally Panzloff earned All-Tournament Honors at UConn.

IT'S ABOUT HOW YOU START

The first set has been instrumental in Brown's success under head coach Taylor Virtue. When Brown wins the first set this season, they are 5-0 and in the three seasons under Virtue Brown is 32-4 overall when winning the first set.
If the Bears lose the first set, things have been bleak. Brown is 0-5 this season if they drop the first set and 3-21 under Virtue overall.
When Brown wins the first two sets of a match they are 25-2 under Virtue but the Bears are still waiting for their first reverse sweep, sitting at 0-20 when dropping the first two sets.

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