Although the volleyball team is no longer a contender for an Ivy title this season, the weekend’s twin losses — in straight sets to Princeton on Friday and especially the dramatic five-set battle with undefeated Penn on Saturday night — again highlighted the team’s potential, even as it celebrated the stellar careers of its three seniors, Megan Mushovic, Jessica Misse and Juliana Rogers.

With the losses, Cornell (6-17, 3-9 Ivy) slips to 6th in the conference standings. Princeton (9-13, 7-4 Ivy) is solidly in third place, with Penn in first with a still perfect 11-0 Ivy record, 20-4 overall.

Against the Tigers the Red was led by junior outside hitter Alessa Cekauskas on offense, who earned nine kills while hitting .346 percent. In the middle, sophomore setter Jordan Reeder split time with freshman Lucy Zheng, with Reeder earning 22 assists and Zheng 12. Mushovic tallied 21 digs at libero. Taking sides: Freshman Lucy Zheng (5), sophomore Madeleine Przybyl (11) and junior Alessa Cekauskas (10) attempt a block during a 3-1 win over Brown on Oct. 17.

Cornell was leading the first set at the halfway point, 15-12, but Princeton returned to tie the score at 16 before going on a 5-1 run that the home team was unable to come back from, with the challengers coming away with the 25-20 win.

In the second set the Tigers grabbed an early lead that they steadily added to, pushing the score to 18-9 — a second insurmountable lead for the Red who went on to lose 25-18.

Following the break, a reenergized Red started out aggressively, grabbing a 7-3 lead thanks in part to a string of kills from the starters and an ace from Cekauskas. Adjusting to the surge, the Tigers pounded back with an 8-3 run to reclaim the advantage. The two teams see-sawed back and forth until a 7-1 Princeton run broke a 14-14 tie and rolled to a 25-17 final.

On Saturday night, the Red honored its three graduating seniors before the game as part of its Senior Night. Urged on by a surge of nostalgic motivation perhaps, or the knowledge that this was a game everyone had picked them to lose, Cornell started off with a confidence that clearly startled this season’s probable Ivy champion Quakers.

Taking advantage of an important 7-2 scoring run near the midpoint, the Red took a 19-13 lead, that Penn came to close to but not close enough, losing 25-22.

The Red kept the momentum going into the second set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before blowing the game open at 16-5. Undaunted, a tenacious Quaker offense pushed its way back into the set with a 12-3 run, but a huge kills from sophomore middle blocker Kelly Hansen stopped the rally and the Red took the second set as well, 25-21.

Looking to complete the upset in three, Cornell didn’t let down in the third set, either, leading 21-16 following a kill by Rogers.

Finally, however, it seemed Penn had had enough.

The Quakers went on a devastating 9-2 run to earn the comeback victory and stave off the sweep.

In the fourth set, both teams worked hard to gain an advantage, with the lead swinging back and forth for the first 16 points of the set. A pair of ill-timed errors by the Red helped put the Quakers up, 19-16, and a late rally was enough to regain the lead for Cornell, losing 25-21.

With the match on the line, the Red feel behind early in the fifth set, as the Quakers went on an 8-3 run that reminded the spectators why they are the sole undefeated team in the league. Kills from Hansen and Rogers brought the Red to within two, however, at 10-8. A key kill from Pula and an ace from Mushovic kept the team within one at 11-10, before a 3-1 run put the Quakers on the brink of victory. Pula again scored a kill to make it 14-12, but the Quakers struck next to secure the comeback, dashing the Red’s hopes for an upset senior send off.

Cornell was led by Pula, with 19 kills, with Hansen, Cekauskas and Rogers all tallying in the double figures. Reeder finished with a career-high 55 assists, to go along with 21 digs. Mushovic chipped in 22 digs of her own.

With the effort, Mushovic added one more honor to go along with an impressive array of Cornell records. The senior has now tallied over 2,000 digs in her career, testament to her consistent dominance in the libero position.