Women's volleyball beat Penn to go 4-4 in Ivy League

Surging back into Ivy League competition, women’s volleyball (9-8 overall, 4-4 Ivy League) proved their dominance in a 3-1 victory over rival Penn (9-1, 3-5) this past Saturday. The Tigers not only avenged their home-opener loss to the Quakers but also rose to fourth in the Ivy League standings.

Coming into Saturday’s game, the rival Quakers had the confidence of stealing Princeton’s home-opener. In the late September matchup, Penn won in four regrettably close sets, with an average point margin under four points per set. In turn, Princeton invaded the Palestra on Saturday with hopes of avenging the previous loss on the Quaker’s own court.

In the first set, Princeton stumbled to a rough start, quickly falling into a 6-0 hole. Following a crucial timeout, however, the Tigers proved resilient. A balanced effort between freshman middle blocker Nnenna Ibe, senior right side Kendall Peterkin, and junior middle blocker Brittany Ptak would even the score at 13-13. Several Penn errors later, the Tigers came away with a victorious first set.

Unfortunately, the second set would slip away from the Tigers, who gave up a late 22-20 lead. Penn concluded the set on an impressive 5-0 run to even the match.

With the game in contention, Princeton proceeded to rebound from the regretful second set loss. With the help of freshman setter Claire Nussbaum, Peterkin and junior outside hitter Cara Mattaliano combined for 21 kills in the final two sets alone, finishing off the Quakers.

The game’s star, Nussbaum accumulated a match-high 48 assists and three service aces by the end of the match.

“We did a really good job of passing. That helped because I could run the middle early in the game,” Nussbaum explained. “I was then able to get the ball to the hitters. Passing started everything off and balanced the offense.”

While the Tigers began this season at the rock bottom of Ivy League standings, by last weekend, the Tigers had earned a four-way tie with Brown, Columbia and Penn for fourth place in the league. This weekend’s victory along with Cornell’s upset over Columbia further distanced the Tigers from the Lions and Quakers. Brown and Princeton now stand behind the league triple threat of Harvard, Dartmouth and Yale.

To shed light on the Tiger’s rise from the bottom, Nussbaum said, “I think the main thing we stressed in practice was aggressiveness. In practice we were a bit more timid and scared of mistakes. Coach [Sabrina King] emphasized a more aggressive attitude — playing to win instead of playing to lose. We are now a lot more composed and confident, even playing with swagger.”

Looking ahead, the Tigers will actually play each of the top three teams in an upcoming two-week home stand. Victories over these top squads would make for an unbelievable season turnaround.

Despite the pressure, challenge and high stakes, Nussbaum did not waver and the confidence showed through.

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“Because the Ivy League is so up and down, it’s anyone’s title. It’s important for us to focus on our side of the net — we have the talent and chemistry,” Nussbaum said. “It doesn’t matter who we go against. Focusing on playing our best game no matter what happens.”