Box Score Photo Gallery (Darl Zehr)

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red volleyball team ended the 2012 season with a bang, sending its two seniors – Ana Vanjak and Lucy Zheng – out with a 3-1 victory over Penn this evening in Newman Arena. Cornell, which defeated Princeton last night, ends first-year head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose's inaugural campaign with a 9-16 record overall and a 5-9 mark in the Ivy League. With the victory, the Big Red also earned its first Ivy League weekend sweep since also closing the 2008 season with consecutive victories against Harvard and Dartmouth.

Game scores were: 25-15, 20-25, 25-23, 25-19.

Cornell's second upset win in as many nights was spearheaded by Breanna Wong's 18 kills. The freshman rightside hitter posted an incredible.405 (18-3-37), but that wasn't even the best performance on the team, as junior Rachel D'Epagnier connected on .591, registering 13 kills and no errors on 22 attempts. D'Epagnier also added six total blocks (two solo, four assisted).

Junior Kelly Marble rounded out the Big Red that hit in double-figures with 13 kills and five errors on 35 attempts for a .229 hitting percentage. She also registered 12 digs and three block assists.   

Libero Brittany Kalepa posted a game-high 18 digs and Zheng finished the game with 49 assists, six digs, two service aces and two kills.

Penn (13-12, 8-6 Ivy), which entered the game ranked third in the Ivy League, was led by Alex Caldewell and Emma White who posted nearly identical numbers with 10 kills and seven errors each on 32 and 33 attempts, respectively. Ronnie Bither (20 assists) and Caldwell (19 assists) split the setting duties and libero Dani Shepherd finished with 16 digs.

Offensively, the Big Red played a smart game, hitting .278 as a team, and nullifying the impact of the Quakers' Susan Stuecheli, who entered the match ranked first in the conference with 1.26 blocks per set, but was limited to just one block the entire evening.

Defensively, Cornell benefitted from 9.0 team blocks, thanks to D'Epagnier, as well as Vanjak and Marble, who finished with three block assists apiece.