Concordia slams men's volleyball out of playoff race

The bubble finally burst.

The men's volleyball team, which needed to win all of its remaining matches following Tuesday night's loss at NJIT, dropped a 3-0 decision to Concordia last night at Dillon Gym. The Tigers (7-11, 3-9) have now been officially eliminated from the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association playoff race.

"It was a rough loss," senior outside Pablo Clarke said. "I don't think our hearts were in that third game."

Princeton began the match with an offense it had developed for the NJIT match. The new style spreads the burden of production on offense more and led to a close loss in Newark on Tuesday. It also worked well in the early going tonight.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first game, despite the notable absence of freshman middle Dennis Al-shuler. Alshuler and senior setter Jason Morrow had been the standouts of the old Princeton offense.

Concordia soon closed the gap, however, on the strength of several long rallies and tied the game at 9-9. The rest of the night would be dominated by Concordia.

The Clippers eventually won the first game 15-9 and opened the second with a 5-0 run behind a strong serving performance by senior Colin Henry of Kingston, Jamaica. The Clippers opened a ten-point lead before the Tigers could manage a score.

Henry recorded one service ace during the second-game run. Overall, Concordia had two aces on the night. The Tigers also had two aces in the match, but committed eight service errors.

"Stay alive. Stay alive," Clarke demanded of his teammates after one error in the second game. The rallying cry was not enough to spark the Tigers, however, as they dropped the game, 15-3.

"They kind of broke our hearts when they beat us 15-3 in that second game," Clarke said.

Despite the two-game deficit, Princeton rallied to take an early lead in the third. That lead soon evaporated, however, under the heat of two Henry kills.

The Tigers would refuse to simply fold. Down 8-4 in the third game, Princeton scored three straight points to close the gap to 8-7. Back-to-back service aces by sophomore blocker Scott Dore and a powerful kill by senior middle Tom Dowd pulled the Tigers to within one point of tying the third game and possibly extending the match.

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The rally would not be enough, however. Concordia eventually regained serve and its offense took control as it had in the second game. Princeton would score only once more in the match. The last game finished in a 15-8 score.