It's the classic story of a modern day David and Goliath. Or maybe "Hoosiers." Either way you want to look at it, the women's volleyball team is getting ready for its most intense competition of the season.
"We're setting up for the biggest upset in national volleyball history," senior captain Emily Brown said.
After winning the Ivy League Championship two weeks ago in Cambridge, Mass., Princeton earned a bid to the NCAA Division I Championships. Sunday night the 2000 NCAA bracket was announced, and the Tigers learned that they will have to travel to Lincoln, Neb. to face top-seeded Nebraska in the first round of the tournament.
The Cornhuskers — who finished the season with a perfect 28-0 record — are ranked number one in the Big 12 Conference, as well as in the latest USA Today and American Volleyball Coaches Association polls.
"We're really fired up because we have the opportunity to play the best team in the nation," senior outside Sabrina King said. "It'll be a great experience, no matter what. It'll be fun to say we were there, and we played the best of the best."
Kings of the court
With two years of NCAA tournament experience — at Maryland in 1997 and at Brigham Young University in 1990 — King and Brown will surely lead this year's squad. This year, King was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection — averaging 3.50 kills and 3.78 digs per match. Brown, who has led the Princeton middles in total blocks this season, received second-team All-Ivy honors after helping the Tigers clinch their 13th league title. In addition to the senior captains, Princeton will look to freshman outside hitter Kellie Cramm, who was recently named Ivy League Rookie of the Year, for leadership this weekend. Cramm — who averaged 3.12 kills and 2.43 digs per game — became the fourth Tiger to earn the honor after her outstanding season as a dominant force on the outside. At the Ivy Tournament, she helped lead Princeton to the championship title with 52 kills and only nine errors out of 121 attempts over the course of the weekend.
Cornhusker challenge
Undoubtedly, Friday's match against Nebraska will prove to be the Tigers' hardest competition of the season. The Cornhuskers are led by setter Greichaly Cepero, a sophomore from Puerto Rico, who earned Big 12 Conference Player-of-the-Year honors for the 2000 season. Cepero is joined by four other Huskers on the Big 12 honor roll, including sophomore outside hitter Laura Pilakowski who averaged 4.22 kills per game — the highest percentage by an outside hitter in the Big 12 — and sophomore middle Amber Holmquist, the nation's best blocker with 2.20 blocks per game.
"I think coach is having the guys' team come hit at us," sophomore middle blocker Abby Studer said. "It'll be good for us to practice like that, since Nebraska is sure to hit just as hard, if not harder."
Top-ranked Nebraska — which boasted more all-conference honorees than any other team in the central region — will host the Tigers at the NU Coliseum, where it has averaged about 4,300 fans per match this season, including a record-breaking 12,504 fans during its win over Colorado earlier this month. The Nebraska site should be a big change for the Tigers, who are used to a much smaller, Dillon Gym-size crowd.
"We're excited to play in front of a big crowd," head coach Glenn Nelson said. "It's really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these girls.
"We're there to represent the Ivy League. We know our chances of winning might be slim, but we're just going to represent, and play the best we can."
The winner of Friday night's match will then play the winner of the George Washington-South Carolina contest on Saturday, also at NU Coliseum.
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