Women's volleyball splits weekend pair, falls out of league race

With a chance at winning the Ivy League championship almost within its grasp, the women's volleyball team came into last weekend looking for one more rung on the ladder to grab on to to pull it closer to first place, a position held by Penn.

Of course, this is a ladder the team has climbed before, as the two-time defending Ivy League champions. Unfortunately for the Tigers, ladders tend to wear with use, and one rung did not fit into place this weekend as it had in seasons before.

The women's volleyball team (13-8 overall, 7-4 Ivy League) played two games this weekend that ended, 3-0. One of these was a 3-0 win over Dartmouth (7-15, 2-10). Unfortunately for the Tigers, the other, a match against Harvard (10-12, 3-9), was a loss that most likely ended the chances of the Tigers playing in the NCAA tournament as Ivy League champions.

Harvard came into Dillon Gym Friday night and played possibly its best volleyball of the year, snapping a six-game Princeton winning streak that started back on October 19 against Brown. The Crimson crashed the party when Princeton needed to keep on rolling.

"We didn't think Harvard would give us a match," sophomore outside Kellie Cramm said.

This was understandable considering the Crimson's 2-8 Ivy League record coming into the match, but was an oversight the Tigers could not afford. Princeton needed to win all its remaining games and hope for a Penn loss in order to catch the Quakers (16-4, 10-1) and Brown (14-10, 9-3) — which also lost a game over the weekend — and form a three-way tie atop the Ivy standings.

"People were saying we didn't look like we wanted to be out there [on the court], but we were looking forward to this match," Cramm said. "We may have been looking a little bit ahead to Penn and Brown."

The Crimson beat the Tigers 30-28, 30-25, and 30-27. Cramm finished the match with nine digs and a team-high 16 kills. Junior middle Abby Studer had 15 kills of her own, along with four blocks. Despite these strong performances, the Tigers could not muster a much-needed win against Harvard.

Princeton's poor performance on Friday overshadowed a dominating match Saturday afternoon against Dartmouth, which Princeton won, 3-0, in its final home match of the 2001 campaign.

"Everyone was frustrated about the night before," Cramm said. "We wanted to prove how we could play."

The Tigers took it to the Big Green, posting 30-23, 30-20, and 30-17 wins. Dartmouth's point total was among the lowest the Tigers have allowed all year. This match was Princeton's fifth 3-0 win in the last six matches.

Senior setter Ana Yoerg ended with a match-high 39 assists in her last collegiate home game. Studer followed her strong showing against Harvard with 10 kills and three blocks against Dartmouth. Junior outside Michelle Buffum, whose return from injury coincided with the Princeton turnaround earlier in the season, registered 14 kills.

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For the Tigers, this turnaround looks like it will turn out to have been too little too late, and the chances of Princeton winning the Ivy League title are slim to none.

"It's not likely [that we will win the Ivy championship]," Cramm said. "But we're going to go into Penn and Brown and Yale and we're going to play hard."