The prospects looked bright indeed for the women's volleyball team last night as it headed to Jersey City to face Saint Peter's. Coming into the match, the Peahens represented a third of the Tigers' six wins and none of their three losses.
Those ratios changed considerably last night. Led by Valentina Zaharieva, who had 30 kills and 23 digs, Saint Peter's jumped all over the Tigers, defeating them, 3-1, and providing a wakeup call for the lackluster Princeton team.
The harder they fall
"We went in there over-confident," senior captain Emily Brown said. "They had gotten to know us over the past two games, and we just couldn't put it together. We were lazy and tired."
In the losing cause, the Tigers were led by freshman outside Kellie Cramm, who had 17 kills, junior setter Anastasia Yoerg, who had 43 assists and 15 digs and by their usual offensive star, senior captain Sabrina King, who surprisingly helped Princeton most on defense last night with 24 digs.
The win for Saint Peter's (2-12) broke a 12-match losing streak for the Peahens. In their previous two encounters with Saint Peter's at tournaments at Brown and Rutgers, the Tigers won handily by scores of 3-1 and 3-0, respectively.
"[Last night] was a real struggle for us," Brown said. "We knew the whole match that we were better. We knew it, but we just couldn't do anything about it."
Although the match means little for the Tigers' hopes of repeating as Ivy League champions since Saint Peters is not in the Ivy League, the poor performance is a sign that Princeton will need to refocus before it opens its Ivy schedule Oct. 6 at Harvard.
"Our team's just in a slump," Cramm said. "Everyone's tired and stressed out and not playing well. Since last weekend at Rutgers, we just haven't been playing well."
No rest for the weary
The Tigers do not have long to rest, however. They play next Friday and Saturday at Juniata, then next Wednesday at Manhattan. They will not play their first home match of the season until Oct. 11 against Fordham.
After last season, Princeton expects nothing less than another Ivy title and a return to the NCAA tournament.
"We really need to step it up and be ready for the Ivy schedule," Cramm said. "We start in just a week and a half against Harvard."
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