Women's volleyball picks up two victories at Rider Invitational

After one of the shortest road trips a team can have, the women's volleyball team played three solid games in a tournament at Rider University in Lawrenceville this weekend. Following an opening loss in a close match to the host school Friday, the Tigers came away with two wins Saturday to salvage a winning record for the tournament.

The Tigers matched up well with Rider in the first match, narrowly losing in five games. However, the next day, Princeton pounced on Hartford and Long Island to break out of a two-game slide.

"We had a strong start on Friday, and were satisfied with how we played," senior captain Ana Yoerg said. "It was one of those matches that we lost, but we felt pretty happy with the result because we played well."

The Tigers came back after losing the first game to the Broncs with two consecutive 30-27 wins. Rider then eked out a 30-28 win to force a deciding fifth game, which it won, 15-12.

The box score would make it seem as if the Tigers played very well and fell victim to a team that just had a better day in a close match. The Tigers, however, felt that their mindset was not where it should have been.

"We were playing not to lose rather than to win — we should have beaten them," sophomore outside hitter Kellie Cramm said. "We didn't deserve to win. We were pretty evenly matched, but we just weren't making plays that had to be made."

There were other factors in place during the game that led to Princeton's defeat as well. Playing the home team in a packed gym had its effect on the outcome of the match.

"The gym was loud and their mascot was out pumping up the crowd," Cramm said. "It was definitely harder playing against the home team."

While the Tigers did not seem to make any blatant mistakes and did flash moments of brilliance, those moments were fleeting. This may have been an effect of missing junior outside hitter Michelle Buffum who was out due to an injury.

"We have a lot of movement in our lineup because Michelle is out," Yoerg said. "It changes every game."

Princeton's freshmen got a chance to showcase their skills in this weekend's games. They were moved around and tested in many spots to see where they would help the team the most. So far, the Tigers are having trouble finding a consistently strong lineup and pulling together as a team.

"These early tournaments are for getting a team chemistry," said Yoerg.

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In spite of these difficulties, Princeton was able to "go through the motions," as Yoerg put it, to overcome Hartford and Long Island on Saturday.

The new scoring system in women's NCAA volleyball contributed to some of the difficulties the Tigers faced this weekend. Instead of only being able to score on a serve and needing 15 points to win, a team can score at any time, eliminating side-outs, and must reach 30 points for a victory.

"Last year, you could make a run of 15 straight [points while serving], but now the games can start to drag," Yoerg said. "I miss the old scoring system."

As games and matches dragged on and piled up, fatigue set in among the Tigers. The bench offered a lift in the players of consistent freshman setter Sally Cade, who played strongly in Yoerg's stead, and a fiery sophomore outside hitter Dale Maffett.

"Dale is such a firecracker for us," Yoerg said. "She completely added to the energy level. She was a spark for us [against Long Island]."

Cramm finished the tournament with a total of 56 kills in the three matches this weekend in what she called "not very pretty volleyball." Yoerg had a strong showing with 39 and 38 assists, respectively in the first two games, before giving way to Cade during the last match.