I realize I'm entering Noah's territory a little, but he's traveling back from Florida to Philadelphia today.

Anyway, today the NCAA announced the Volleyball Tournament bracket, and Penn will face Army Friday at University Park, Pa. Although it is a 64-team tournament (kind of) like the Men's Basketball Tournament, only 16 teams are ranked. Penn didn't get one of those seeds. In fact, they're in No. 1 Penn State's sub regional, hence they're playing at the Nittany Lions' home gym. If the Quakers were to beat the 26-5 Black Knights, they would then take on Penn State (32-0) who  just won its 96th consecutive match (it has also won 72 matches in a row at home).

But first up are the Black Knights, who are in their first ever Volleyball Tournament as Patriot League champions. Freshman Ariana Mankus swept the Patriot League Player and Rookie of the Year awards.

Penn has made the NCAA Tournament three previous times, always losing in the first round. The most recent loss was a 3-1 decision to Pittsburgh in 2003, coincidentally held in University Park as well.

The volleyball team's dominance has been well-documented here on The Buzz, but here's one more interesting tidbit on just how historic this season was.

The All-Ivy awards were announced this week, and Penn set yet another record with FOUR first team selections, becoming the first team ever to accomplish that feat. Ivy League Player of the Year Elizabeth Semmens was a unanimous selection, as was setter and Ivy assists leader Megan Tryon. Penn's all-time single season and career digs leader, Madison Wojciechowski also got the nod for first team, and Rookie of the Year Lauren Martin became the first freshman in four years to earn the honor. Current Yale senior Alexis Crusey did so, and this year she became just the fifth player to earn a first team selection for all four seasons. Martin could very well be on her way to becoming the sixth.

The Quakers are waiting anxiously for this Sunday's NCAA tournament selection show, when they'll find out their first-round opponent. Last year Yale defeated Albany before being trounced by a dominant Penn State team. Penn will most likely be playing at Penn State, but it hopes to face a beatable opponent before running into the Nittany Lions.

The volleyball team got a bit of luck and made a bit of its own today, and in the end they're going to sleep as at least the co-Ivy champs. But we all know it's just a matter of time before it's all theirs.

Second-place Yale lost to Dartmouth while Penn was battling Cornell this afternoon. The Quakers were down 2-0 to a pumped up Big Red team playing on senior night, and were even on the verge of being swept when it was 23-20 in the third set. They clawed back miraculously to win that set 25-23 and went on to defeat Cornell in five games.

The Bulldogs' loss dropped them to 8-3 in the Ivy League, and with just three games remaining Penn (20-4, 11-0 Ivy) has to win just one of its next three (all at the Palestra) to be the outright Ivy champs. I doubt I'll ever say this again, but I really wish I could've been in Ithaca tonight. It sounds like it was an absolutely amazing game. Chances are the team didn't even know that Yale had lost, since the games were played at the same time. So they fought furiously to stay undefeated knowing that even with a loss they still controlled their own destiny toward being crowned the victors, and it certainly paid off. It has truly been a special season for this team. Their first chance to clinch the outright title is next Friday the 13th against Harvard. And if the Quakers win and the heavens are truly on Penn's side (despite the ominous date), then the next day Penn football will also beat Harvard to clinch a share of the title.

Check out Monday's DP for complete coverage of today's game and for reaction from Coach Kerry Carr and some players.

After the jump, some more notes on this year.

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My first and only actual beat so far at the DP was Volleyball (I've been an editor since covering them last Fall). I got to write a few fun stories earlier this year, but some new writers have been covering them recently. I still follow the team closely, and they have been having a tremendous season, with one of the two biggest games of the season on tap for tomorrow. So, I decided I needed to write something on The Buzz about our most under-the-radar fall season team.

Also, I found one more interesting item on the Fitzpatrick backboard incident. So continue after the jump to get the scoop. (more...)

Now that we've hit mid-July, the majority of fall teams have released their schedules. Here they are, and I'll try to update this page as the last few schedules are announced.

Field Hockey: The non-conference schedule is highlighted by a weekend trip to Vermont to take on University of Vermont and University of New Hampshire. The biggest Ivy game of the year is always Princeton, and this year it's at Franklin Field on Nov. 6, the day before the Homecoming football game.

Football: We've known the matchups for quite some time now, but the times are still officially TBA. However, I've got some information about the start times:

The opener versus Villanova at Franklin Field was tentatively scheduled for 3:30 but that time has changed. Most home games are potentially slated at 1 p.m., but that's dependent on television schedules that haven't been finalized. The one exception is homecoming, which a Penn Athletics representative said was “99%” likely to take place in the afternoon at 3:30 p.m. instead of the noon kickoff time of the last few years.

@ Lafayette: 9/26 6 p.m. (same time as last year’s game in Easton).

@ Dartmouth: 10/3 1:30 p.m.

@ Columbia: 10/17 1:30 p.m. (The Lions’ homecoming)

@ Brown: 10/31 12:30 p.m.

@ Harvard: 11/14 Noon

Sprint Football: The lightweights' schedule is basically the same every year since it's a small league (no pun intended). This year, however, there's a new team, Mansfield.

M. Golf: Nothing much to say here since golf's bigger season is the spring. Guess the only thing of note is that the  Rehoboth Beach Fall Invitational is listed as a home tournament.

M. Soccer: The defending co-Ivy League champions, might listen to Led Zeppelin this fall as the team is "Going to California" in September.  Specifically, they'll be traveling to San Diego the first weekend of the school year (Sept 11-13) to participate in the San Diego State Tournament.

W. Soccer: Home cooking might be the remedy to the Quakers' "very disappointing" 2008 season. 11 of Penn's 16 games are at home.

Volleyball: The same weekend that M. Soccer is in California, Volleyball will be in another big state: Texas. The Quakers travel to the Lone Star state to participate in the Houston Baptist Tournament.