Women's volleyball notches first two Ivy wins over Brown, Yale

A champion has a confident swagger. But if that champion loses three straight league games, that strut dissipates very quickly. This weekend, the women's volleyball team got its confident swagger back with dominating performances against Brown and Yale.

The Tigers (8-7 overall, 2-3 Ivy League) faced the best and worst of the Ivy League and came out on top against both. Brown (9-8) came into Dillon Gym on Friday with a 4-0 league record, but the Tigers were not intimidated, winning in four games.

The next day, Yale (6-8), which had an 0-4 league record coming into Saturday, provided an easy 3-1 win for the Tigers.

Brown came out firing in the first game, winning 30-28 in a nail-biter. Points switched back and forth as the game went on, but Princeton could not hold off the Bears, who won the last three points of the game.

"We should have won the first game," head coach Glenn Nelson, a hands-off coach who usually does not even enter the huddle during a timeout, said. "It drives you crazy when you lose a game like that. We had so many opportunities to score, and we didn't. Teams of the past may have converted 80 percent of those opportunities, but now we're only getting 40 percent."

In the second game, Princeton jumped out to a 10-6 lead before letting Brown back into it. The Tigers looked as though they would be able to hold off the Bears, leading 29-25 in the race to 30, but they surrendered four straight points to push the game to a 29-29 tie. However, Princeton won three out of the next four points to finish off the game.

After several momentum swings in the third game, Princeton clawed its way back to win the game 30-26. Freshman middle blocker Alex Brown started off the fourth and final game with a big kill that ignited the crowd and sent Princeton on its way to a 30-26 win in the game, and a 3-1 win in the match.

"I thought we played well despite the fact that we tried to give it away," Nelson said. "I'm glad we didn't go to five games, because it looks like if it goes five, we don't win it."

Senior setter Ana Yoerg put a different spin on that idea, saying, "the fifth game is flaky."

The next day, Princeton played a clearly overmatched Yale team into the ground, winning in four games, despite momentary lapses of playing down to Yale's level.

In game one, the Tigers beat the Bulldogs comfortably, 30-23, a result that has been hard to come by this season. The next game, Princeton cruised by the Bulldogs, 30-27, looking in control despite the close score and a slow start, which prompted Nelson to call a timeout and jump in the huddle to fire up his team.

The next game was a different story, however. Yale exploded, winning 30-18.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The Tigers "eased up a little," as junior outside hitter Michelle Buffum put it. "We were standing on our heels. We weren't as aggressive on our hits, and we paid for it with getting blocked."

Princeton took that loss personally and returned the favor to the Bulldogs with a 30-18 win of its own, ending the match and completing a two-win weekend. The Ivy-favorite Tigers are finally starting to pull it together in a season that has been marked by injuries to Buffum and sophomore outside hitter Kellie Cramm. The lineup carousel has by no means ended, however.

"We haven't had the six people on the court ready to go that we wanted yet," Nelson said.

"Volleyball is a full-body sport," Buffum said. "You use your legs, knees, back, stomach, arms, shoulders, everything. And it's a longer season. We play every [Ivy League] team twice. That can be good because people can come back, but it can be bad because there are more games to get injured in."

The Tigers seem to have gotten over the hump after several surprising early-season losses.

"We needed to win to build confidence, and we needed to have confidence to win," Buffum said. "It's time to show the Ivy League what's up. And you can write that."