W. volleyball competitive against Cornell and Columbia

The Princeton volleyball team showed the rest of the Ivy League they are ready to fight for the conference title.

Emotions ran high this past weekend on the last road matches for the team's seniors. Princeton was able to convert these emotions into intensity to propel them to victory.

And with wins against both Harvard and Dartmouth this past weekend, the Tigers kept alive their chances of Ivy League Champion honors.

Princeton (15-5 overall, 8-3 Ivy League) went into this weekend hungry for revenge against Harvard, which had beaten them earlier in the season. The stakes were high for the Tigers — they needed to win the match to have any hope for the league title.

Fortunately for Princeton, this match was a vast improvement over the last time the two teams met.

"Harvard was looking past us," freshman setter Jenny Senske said. "They came out a little too confident."

Still, Friday's match against the Crimson (13-10, 9-3) started slowly for Princeton as they dropped the first game, 16-30.

But the Tigers soon regrouped. By shutting down the Harvard offense, they were able to battle back and take two out of the next three games, with scores of 30-21, 29-31, and 30-23.

In the fifth and final game, Princeton decided they had worked too hard to let Harvard effectively end their hopes for the Ivy League title. They took the game 15-11 and the match 3-2.

Freshman outside hitter Lauren Grumet led the team with 23 kills. She and junior Kerry Song carried the Tiger defense with 21 digs apiece. Senske put up 70 assists for the victory.

"Our team definitely came through when we needed it Friday night," Grumet said. "I think all of our individual talents finally came together in that one match."

Her teammates agreed. "There was a sense of urgency about the game," senior co-captain Abby Studer — who added 21 kills for the win — said. "We finally followed through and played up to our potential."

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Exhausted from the five-game match, the Tigers faced Dartmouth (5-19, 1-11) the next day. Though not as significant as the Harvard match, Princeton still needed a win in Hanover to keep their Ivy League losses down to three.

The Big Green took advantage of Princeton's fatigue, winning two of the first three games. The Tigers, however, kept from negating the Harvard win with a loss to Dartmouth. The determination prevailed in the end as they claimed a 23-30, 30-24, 27-30, 32-30, 15-7 victory.

"We were tired from playing Harvard, but we eventually got it together," Studer said.

Junior outside hitter Kellie Cramm led the team in both kill and dig statistics, with 20 and 27, respectively. The team's star seniors also put up big numbers in their last away game. Studer had 19 kills and eight blocks in the match, while Michelle Buffum stepped up for 12 kills and 24 digs.

For a shot at the title, Princeton must win all three of their remaining matches against Yale, Brown, and Penn. The Quakers, who have only one league loss on the season, must lose to another Ivy match as well.

"We're focusing on next weekend," said Studer. "I'm looking forward to having a bunch of fans for the home matches."

Two of Princeton's remaining three matches are against teams that defeated them earlier in the season: Brown and Penn. All three matches are at home in Dillon Gymnasium.

While Princeton realizes that, to some extent, the outcome of the Ivy League championship is out of their hands, they are optimistic about finishing the season with intensity — and, Senske would mention, the title.

"After beating Harvard, the entire team realizes that anything is possible."