A 'Prince' career inspired by one magical season

For me, it began quite inauspiciously. On a whim, really. Though I was a sports junkie, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision that made me add my name to the sports list for The Daily Princetonian at the freshman Activities Fair. Looking back, the sports editors probably never ex-pected to hear from me again.

I don't really know what it was that made me come back. I didn't feel that comfortable in the misogynistic atmosphere, and it took me a whole semester before I stopped feeling like an outsider or an intruder in a mostly male club. I can thank Shirley Wang '99, who became an editor that February and was also my RA, for finally helping me overcome that invisible barrier that may have been just in my head.

When most people think of Princeton sports in 1997-98, the men's basketball team comes to mind. But for me, freshman year will always be volleyball, and it is probably the reason that I stayed on at the 'Prince.'

I covered women's volleyball in the fall, moving on to cover the men in the winter and spring. The women initiated me into the world of volleyball here, but nothing could have prepared me for that spring. Nothing.

The men had their best season ever in 1998. The only word to describe it is 'magical.' But their spectacular season was mostly overshadowed by the accomplishments of Bill Carmody, Steve Goodrich '98 & Co. In my mind, though, the men's volleyball team did much more.

As a 'club-varsity' team, it receives very little from the athletic department. When I covered the Tigers, they did not even have warm-ups and had trouble finding money to rent vans. No member of that team — the best in school history — qualified to receive all-league honors because of an 'athletic department oversight.'

The team defeated Penn State for the first time ever that season — and then did it again in the postseason. The season culminated in an Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association title and the Final Four trip to Hawaii that went along with it. Princeton was the first unranked team and the first non-scholarship school to ever advance to the Final Four.

From the moment I met Coach Nelson, I knew that covering volleyball was going to be unlike anything I had ever done before. Unabashedly honest, Nelson gives the best quotes of any coach on this campus. He loves his players, but has no qualms about telling the truth, which is a welcome change in a coach.

He is the most laid-back coach Princeton has, in my opinion. His standard game-time pose is to sit, arms folded, legs out, at the end of the row of chairs. He rarely paces or yells at his players during the course of the game, instead preferring to observe and then counsel during timeouts.

Then I received my first e-mail from Josh Stephens '97, a former 'Prince' writer who attended high school with several of the players and had covered only volleyball. He critiqued my work and continued to write me periodically for the rest of the semester. He made me realize that volleyball was more than just a sport.

Finally, Scott Birdwell '98 essentially told me that my first few articles were just too serious. I knew I could never be another Josh Stephens. But I decided I would make my articles more wacky and unusual, and Birdwell and his teammates were more than happy to oblige. So drive-by shootings and "growing up in the hood" became my leads, for example, and mysterious thefts of uniforms lightened up my prose.

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After losing to Penn State in early February, the rematch, this time at home, loomed large. I remember the date — March 27 — because I missed men's hockey's first-round NCAA game against Michigan. But instead I witnessed the most amazing volleyball match I have ever seen, and that will stick with me much longer. Princeton solidly defeated the Nittany Lions in three straight games. The Tigers had an 11-5 lead in the third game and withstood a surge by Penn State to take a 14-12 lead before finally capitulating.

The atmosphere at Dillon that night was more charged than at any other sporting event I have attended during my years at Princeton — any basketball game at Jadwin and two NCAA tournament games in Hartford included. The women's team was out in full force, and between the water polo teams and a couple hundred other people, the crowd made a deafening roar. One water polo player always brought a cowbell, and the rest of the fans their screams and cheers.

Apathetic is the adjective most-often ascribed to Princeton spectators. The fans at those matches constitute some of my fondest memories of covering sports. Die-hard, they came to support their friends while the rest of the campus filled Jadwin to watch the basketball team pound its latest victim. They reversed the apathy label in my mind and made Dillon tough for visiting teams.

The EIVA final against Rutgers-Newark was the last match I covered. I, unfortunately, did not make the trip out to Hawaii. Though the tournament was held at Rutgers' home court, Princeton stole the advantage with the number of fans and family members that attended the match. The Tigers played almost flawlessly, dominating the Scarlet Raiders and Christos Tsamadias, one of the best players in the nation. Though the magic ended for Princeton when it fell to Pepperdine in three straight games at the Final Four, what the Tigers accomplished that season was not diminished in any way.

The whole package came together that afternoon. I had never seen such a sight. Afterward, the players were ecstatic, leis around their necks, and I had to wait to speak to Nelson because he was crying. I have never felt so privileged as I did that day. I was overwhelmed. Josh, who had flown out from California for the match and would also go to Honolulu, was also speechless.

I can pinpoint that as the day that made me realize that I wanted the 'Prince' to be a part of my life here at Princeton.

And now that the end is here, I feel somewhat lost. At first I could not imagine myself staying, and now I can't picture myself leaving. That's the way it works, though. When I look back at my four years here at Princeton, 48 University Place will define a great deal of it, for better or worse. For better, I think, since my time here has been amazing.

I went on to cover other teams and other great moments — such as the field hockey team's run to the NCAA title game sophomore year — but nothing has ever come close to that April afternoon in Newark.