Women's volleyball drops pair to remain winless in league play

What good is a recipe that changes every day? When either the ingredients change or the amounts change it will never give you exactly what you want in the pot. That recipe will never win any competition.

The same holds for a volleyball team. If the players are switched around and put in at different moments and for different amounts of time, consistency is impossible. The women's volleyball team had exactly this problem in its last two Ivy League matches.

This weekend, the women's volleyball team suffered two crushing defeats. Friday night, Cornell squeezed by Princeton in a riveting five-game match that swung back and forth before the Big Red finished off the Tigers. On Saturday, Columbia came into Dillon Gym and beat Princeton in four games.

With junior outside hitter Michelle Buffum back in the lineup after missing significant time due to a knee injury, the Tigers looked like they might be done with their constant lineup changes. However, with the Tigers up, 10-5, in the first game against Cornell, sophomore outside hitter Kellie Cramm — Princeton's team leader in kills and digs — turned her left ankle and was out for the rest of the match. Princeton still managed to overpower the Big Red, winning that game, 30-21.

Although it seemed like the Tigers could overcome the setback of losing Cramm with Buffum to fall back on, the rest of the match proved otherwise. Another lineup adjustment was exactly what the Tigers did not need.

"Kellie's good, but [losing her] wasn't the end of the world," senior setter Ana Yoerg said. "It was just another lineup change. We could have pulled it together. Having Michelle [Buffum] was awesome, but it just caused more adjusting to people coming in and out."

The match was agonizingly close the next two games, which Princeton lost by a combined four points (30-28, 31-29) after leading until the last server each time.

However, the Tigers did not lose their resolve after those two heartbreaking losses. They came back to take the fourth game in overwhelming fashion, 30-17. It seemed as though the momentum of the match had jumped back to Princeton's side of the court, but the Tigers found out how fickle momentum is, and Cornell flew through the fifth and deciding game, 15-8.

"We were not very consistent," Yoerg said. "We were hot and cold.

Sometimes we were on, and sometimes we were off."

The next day, when Columbia came calling, the Tigers once again started off on a roll, winning the first game, 30-19, only to lose the next three straight games. Cramm was back in the lineup for the beginning of this match, combining with Buffum to create a formidable outside hitting duo.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Cramm had to leave the match early with the same ankle injury that took her out the night before.

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"[Cramm] is a big leader for us on the court," sophomore Kerry Song said. "She's an integral part of the team."

Losing Cramm again was a turning point in the match. The Tigers were unenergetic, allowing Columbia to take control. The Lions dominated the third game, crushing Princeton, 30-18, despite a late boost of energy from sophomore hitter Dale Maffet.

"[Maffet] was the biggest spark plug for us," Song said. "She fires everyone up. We really needed that."

The fourth and final game reflected this late charge. The Tigers started the game off full of energy, realizing that this was their last chance to seize victory. They jumped out to a 14-6 lead, but then Columbia won 10 out of 11 points and added on seven-straight later on to seemingly put the Tigers to sleep. But Princeton clawed back into contention with six-straight points served by Song. It was too little, too late, however, and the Lions won the game 30-28, ending the match.

The weekend was a disappointment for the Tigers, who were expected to be able to finish off teams like Cornell and Columbia. However, finishing games proved to be the most difficult task of all for Princeton.

"This always happens," Song said. "We win the first game, and then we start to lose. We settle. We don't keep the level [of play] up. It's more our mental than our physical play. We're not hustling. We need to learn how to finish a game. All these little things add up to make a huge difference. Being a young team has a lot to do with it."